Roden v. State

I agree with the majority’s holding that the trial court did not err by refusing to instruct the jury that Gerald Smith was an accomplice as a matter of law or by refusing to submit the issue to the jury of whether he was an accomplice as a matter of fact. I also agree with the ultimate outcome of the opinion, but I write separately to address a pervasive problem raised by Appellant. It is a problem that has been addressed by federal courts but that continues as routine practice in some jurisdictions — selecting more than one jury from a single venire.

As our sister court in Tyler reminded us,…