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He gets two life sentences for Aggravated Kidnapping out of Denton County even though the victim died during trial and wasn't able to testify. No problem. The State admitted the victim's deposition testimony (and depositions are odd in criminal cases and are rarely allowed, but the judge let it happen in this case because the victim was gravely ill.)
Oops. The State took the deposition even though the Defendant couldn't be present because the Feds had scooped him up from the Denton County Jail in the middle of the night. (Federal government is out of control.)
That's a problem so says the Fort Worth Court of Appeals in an opinion released this morning. (PDF file). That little "Confrontation Clause" means he should have been allowed to be at the deposition. Convictions reversed.
Note: He had a ton of prior convictions according to this background story and at least one of them was from Wise County.
(The guy might not be lucky at all. I have no idea if the Feds pursued charges and I have no idea if there is sufficient evidence to retry him.)
