Carmell v. Texas

An amendment to a Texas statute that went into effect on September 1, 1993, authorized conviction of certain sexual offenses on the victim’s testimony alone. The previous statute required the victim’s testimony plus other corroborating evidence to convict the offender. The question presented is whether that amendment may be applied in a trial for offenses committed before the amendment’s effective date without violating the constitutional prohibition against state 11 ex post facto” laws.

I

In 1996, a Texas grand jury returned a 15-count indictment charging petitioner with various sexual…