First Valley Bank of Los Fresnos v. Martin

in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice HECHT, Justice ■ OWEN, Justice O’NEILL, Justice JEFFERSON, Justice SMITH, and Justice WAINWRIGHT joined.

A debtor violates the Texas Penal Code if he removes, conceals, or sells secured property with intent to appropriate it.1 In this case, a jury found that Sam Martin owed $50,000 to First Valley Bank of Los Fresnos, and he admits he sold a substantial part of the collateral and kept the money for himself.

Yet Martin claims the Bank maliciously prosecuted him by complaining to the authorities, who indicted him but later dismissed the charges. A Cameron…