Ex Parte Beavers

The petitioner, Tom Beavers, was convicted on October 20, 1989, of distributing cocaine. On December 5, 1989, he was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary and was fined $10,000. He appealed his conviction to the Court of Criminal Appeals. On February 28, 1991, Beavers filed in that court a supplemental brief in which he raised the issue of whether the jury had been properly instructed on "reasonable doubt." As the basis for this supplemental brief, Beavers cited Cage v.Louisiana, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 328, 112 L.Ed.2d 339 (1990).Cage had been decided by the United States Supreme Court…