Mims v. State

OPINION

KELLER, J.,

delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court.

We granted appellant’s petition to determine whether a defendant in an attempted murder prosecution is entitled to an instruction on the “sudden passion” issue 1 when such instruction is raised by the evidence. The Court of Appeals held that “the law does not require an instruction on sudden passion in an attempted murder case.” Mims v. State, 1998 WL 334441, slip op. at 1-2 (Tex.App.—Dallas June 25, 1998)(unpublished). We will reverse.

The first rule of statutory construction is that we interpret statutes in accordance with the…