Delaney v. State (Unpublished Memo): Life sentence for robbery reversed for resentencing. Delaney had originally received deferred adjudication for an aggravated robbery charge. He violated the terms of deferred adjudication and was brought before the court for final adjudication. At that hearing, the State put on evidence, over Delaney’s objection, that Delaney had committed murder. That was the only evidence the State put on. The trial court sentenced Delaney to life in prison. He tried to appeal, but couldn’t because he had signed documents waiving his right to appeal. Via a habeas corpus petition in the Court of Criminal Appeals, he was able to get those waivers set aside. Delaney is then able to bring this direct appeal in the Tyler court.
Extraneous offenses may be considered during sentencing, but only if they are proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 37.07, § 3(a)(1). The Tyler court’s review of the record showed that the trial court based the life sentence on the murder allegation, not on the aggravated robbery or the unspecified violations of deferred adjudication. But the trial court’s order didn’t recite that the murder had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Sentence set aside.
Delaney also appealed on grounds that the murder shouldn’t have come up at sentencing at all because the State had failed to give the required notice. Since they reversed the sentence for the reasons set out above, the Tyler court didn’t address this issue.
