Piper, Maurice Lamar

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS NO. PD-0712-18 MAURICE LAMAR PIPER, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS ON APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FROM THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS DALLAS COUNTY K ELLER, P.J., filed a concurring opinion in which S LAUGHTER, J., joined. The Penal Code says that a person commits an offense “only if he voluntarily engages in conduct[.]”1 In Brown we treated this “voluntary act” requirement as a defensive issue.2 We also said it has nothing to do with mens rea.3 I think this was wrong. But even if Brown is correct, it is distinguishable from this case,…