Ernest Brown v. State

IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-17-00343-CR ERNEST BROWN, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee From the 19th District Court McLennan County, Texas Trial Court No. 2016-1506-C1 DISSENTING OPINION There are few recognized structural errors in Texas criminal jurisprudence. For all of our sakes, I pray that the right to a jury trial is still one of them. And the right to a jury trial is pointless if the trial court can instruct a verdict on an element of the offense. In this case the jury was so instructed. It was error to do so. It is structural error. Brown’s conviction should be…