Joseph Rodriguez v. State

OPINION

SHARON McCALLY, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant Joseph Rodriguez of murder and assessed a punishment of forty years’ imprisonment. Appellant appeals, arguing that the trial court erred by (1) denying appellant’s requested instruction on the affirmative defense of duress during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial; and (2) sustaining the State’s objections to certain questions during cross-examination of one of the State’s witnesses in the punishment phase of the trial. We affirm.

Background

In 2009, Mario Alanis and his family controlled the drug trade in an area of southwest…