RH&A Appellate Win—Client’s Murder Conviction Overturned; Appellate Court Orders New Trial

RH&A, led by Jenny Brevorka, Naomi Howard, Joe Roden, and Tori Reilly, served as appellate counsel for Quincy Wright, a Houston man convicted of murder in Jackson County, Texas in 2018. Even before indictment, Mr. Wright asserted that he had acted in self-defense when he fired his gun at a stranger who broke into an apartment and aggressively charged at Mr. Wright despite warnings to stop. And, from the start of trial, Mr. Wright’s counsel introduced evidence to establish a self-defense claim in response to the State’s murder charge. Despite these facts, the trial court denied Mr. Wright’s request for a self-defense jury instruction. The trial court also denied Mr. Wright this instruction even after the jury sent the judge a note asking for Texas’ law on self-defense. (The judge refused to tell the jury the law or to provide a self-defense instruction at that point.) The trial court’s ruling constituted legal error and that ruling harmed Mr. Wright, resulting in his conviction, according to the 13^th Court of Appeals.

The appellate court granted oral argument on the appeal, a rare occurrence in a criminal case.  Jenny Brevorka argued the appeal on February 6, 2020, in Corpus Christi. The 13^th Court of Appeals issued its decision quickly, issuing a 15-page opinion in Mr. Wright’s favor six weeks after oral argument. Mr. Wright will now have a new trial in Jackson County in the near future.

Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP has built a solid reputation for taking on the causes of its clients and obtaining favorable results in civil matters, significant criminal cases, and appellate fights. For more information, please visit https://rustyhardin.com/.