Soliz, Jeffery Jay

in which PRICE, WOMACK, JOHNSON, KEASLER, HERVEY, COCHRAN, and ALCALA, JJ., joined.

When a person is prosecuted for a crime, a lesser offense is sometimes submitted to the jury. The trial judge makes an initial determination of whether, as a matter of law, an offense qualifies as a lesser-included offense. 1 He then decides whether the lesser offense was raised by the evidence. 2 Appellant contends that the continuous-sexual-abuse-of-a-young-child statute created an exception to that practice. He contends that, for prosecutions under that statute, the jury must determine as a preliminary…