Davis v. State

OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

WOMACK, Judge,

delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court.

The question in this case is whether, in the penalty phase of a criminal trial, the parties are limited to introducing the fact of a deferred adjudication, but not the details of the underlying offense. We hold that they are not so limited.

Deferred adjudication is a type of community supervision (née probation). The procedures for deferred adjudication are set out in Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42.12, Section 5. For most offenses, 1 a judge may grant deferred adjudication by…