Allen v. State

In this case we must reconcile two lines of Court of Criminal Appeals’ opinions. First is the line of cases which holds that if the State fails to meet its burden of proof to establish an enhancement allegation, “a harmless error analysis should not be undertaken.” Russell v. State, 790 S.W.2d 655, 656 (Tex.Crim.App.1990). As Justice Vance notes, it appears to have been recently reaffirmed in Fletcher v. State, 214 S.W.3d 5, 8 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). The other line of cases is that “[ejxcept for certain federal constitutional errors labeled by the United States Supreme Court as ‘structural,’ no…