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Javier Noel Campos v. State
Citation: Not availableDocket: 01-13-00417-CR
Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; July 29, 2015; Texas; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
A jury convicted Javier Noel Campos of three counts of aggravated sexual assault, sentencing him to sixty-eight years of imprisonment for each count. During the trial, the State impeached Campos using a conviction older than ten years, which was contested by the defense. The court of appeals upheld this action, invoking the common law tacking doctrine and applying the Texas Rule of Evidence 609(a)’s “outweigh” standard, rather than the “substantially outweigh” standard found in Rule 609(b). Campos filed a petition for discretionary review, referencing a recent court decision in Meadows v. State, which clarified that Rule 609's plain language supersedes the common law tacking doctrine. The Meadows decision established that prior convictions are inadmissible for impeachment if more than ten years have passed since the conviction or the witness's release from confinement, unless the court determines otherwise based on specific facts and circumstances. The Court of Criminal Appeals noted that the Court of Appeals had not considered the Meadows precedent and granted Campos's petition, vacating the lower court's judgment and remanding the case for further proceedings in light of the Meadows ruling. Other grounds of Campos's petition were denied with prejudice.