Opinion
WR-62,917-02
02-07-2024
EX PARTE JOE DAVID PADRON, Applicant
DO NOT PUBLISH
ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS CAUSE NO. CR02004423-F(1) IN THE 214TH DISTRICT COURT FROM NUECES COUNTY
ORDER
PER CURIAM.
Applicant was convicted of three counts of capital murder and sentenced to imprisonment. The Thirteenth Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions. Padron v. State, No. 13-06-00464-CR (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi Aug. 14, 2008) (not designated for publication). Through habeas counsel, Applicant filed this application for a writ of habeas corpus in the county of conviction, and the district clerk forwarded it to this Court. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07.
Applicant contends that he should receive a new trial. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing. The parties and the trial court agree that habeas relief should be granted. According to the agreed findings, the State unknowingly offered materially false and misleading testimony from jail-informant witnesses. See Ex parte Weinstein, 421 S.W.3d 656 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). Also according to the findings, there is new scientific evidence on the reliability of jail-informant witnesses and eyewitness identifications that was not available at the time of Applicant's trial. See Tex. Code Crim Proc. art. 11.073. The trial court recommends that this Court grant habeas relief.
This Court requires additional factual development. The trial court is the appropriate forum for findings of fact. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07, § 3(d). The trial court shall order the eyewitness who identified Applicant in a photospread and at trial to give testimony regarding the veracity and reliability of the witness's identifications of Applicant. To do so, the trial court may use any means set out in Article 11.07, § 3(d). See, e.g., Ex parte Lydell Grant, No. WR-84,021-04 (Tex. Crim. App. Jul. 1, 2020) (not designated for publication) (remanding for such testimony).
The trial court shall develop the record and shall make additional findings and conclusions regarding the veracity and reliability of the eyewitness's identification of Applicant. The trial court shall comply with this order within ninety days from the date of this order. The district clerk shall then immediately forward to this Court the trial court's findings and conclusions and the record developed on remand, including, among other things, affidavits, motions, objections, proposed findings and conclusions, orders, and transcripts from hearings and depositions. See Tex. R. App. P. 73.4(b)(4). Any extensions of time must be requested by the trial court and obtained from this Court.