Jose Alberto Amaya Perez v. the State of Texas

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 1st District (Houston)
DecidedJune 16, 2026
Docket01-23-00705-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Jose Alberto Amaya Perez v. the State of Texas (Jose Alberto Amaya Perez v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 1st District (Houston) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jose Alberto Amaya Perez v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Opinion issued June 16, 2026

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-23-00705-CR ——————————— JOSE ALBERTO AMAYA PEREZ, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 185th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 1636284

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A jury convicted Jose Alberto Amaya Perez of the first-degree felony offense

of continuous sexual abuse of a young child and assessed his punishment at thirty- three years’ confinement.1 The trial court further imposed a $100 “Child Abuse

Prevention Fine.”

In three issues on appeal, Amaya Perez contends that (1) the indictment was

insufficient; (2) the trial court made improper remarks during voir dire; and (3) the

trial court improperly assessed the “Child Abuse Prevention Fine,” which does not

apply to offenses committed before January 1, 2020.

We modify the judgment and affirm as modified.

Background

Amaya Perez was indicted for continuous sexual abuse of a young child. The

indictment alleged that he committed at least two acts of sexual abuse against a

young child, including specific acts in January 2018 and June 2019 constituting the

offense of aggravated sexual assault.

Amaya Perez does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, so a detailed

recitation of the underlying facts is not necessary. It is sufficient to say that the

complainant, who was ten years old at the time of trial in 2023, testified that Amaya

Perez molested her on multiple occasions beginning when she was four years old

and ending when she was six years old. Amaya Perez appeals.

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE § 21.02(b). 2 Signature on the Indictment

In his first issue, Amaya Perez contends that the indictment is invalid because

it was signed by an assistant foreperson of the grand jury, not its foreperson. He

argues that the lack of the foreperson’s signature renders the indictment insufficient

under Code of Criminal Procedure article 21.02. That article lists a series of

“requisites” that an indictment must contain to be “deemed sufficient,” including

that the indictment “shall be signed officially by the foreman of the grand jury.” TEX.

CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 21.02(9). Amaya Perez argues that the insufficiency of the

indictment means the trial court never obtained personal jurisdiction over him, and

therefore the judgment is void.

Assuming Amaya Perez preserved this issue, the Court of Criminal Appeals

has rejected it. See Riney v. State, 28 S.W.3d 561, 566 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (citing

article 21.02 and holding that “lack of a signature is of no consequence in this matter,

and is, in fact, not essential to the validity of an indictment”); Tatmon v. State, 815

S.W.2d 588, 589–90 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (same); Owens v. State, 540 S.W.2d

324, 325–26 (Tex. Crim. App. 1976) (same); see also Nwosoucha v. State, 325

S.W.3d 816, 829 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2010, pet. ref’d) (applying Riney

and Owens).

Amaya Perez argues that the Court of Criminal Appeals misapplied the 1966

changes to Code of Criminal Procedure article 27.09. In relevant part, that article

3 provides, “Exceptions to the form of an indictment or information may be taken

for . . . want of any requisite prescribed by Articles 21.02 and 21.21.” TEX. CODE

CRIM. PROC. art. 27.09(2).

But in Tatmon, the Court of Criminal Appeals expressly considered the 1966

changes to article 27.09 and nonetheless concluded that “the absence of [the grand

jury foreperson’s] signature did not adversely affect the validity of the indictment.”

815 S.W.2d at 589–90. We therefore hold that the signature of the assistant grand-

jury foreperson on Amaya Perez’s indictment did not render it invalid.

We overrule Amaya Perez’s first issue.

Judicial Remarks

In his second issue, Amaya Perez asserts that during voir dire, the trial court

violated Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.05 by making comments that

improperly conveyed the judge’s opinion of the case to the potential jurors.2

2 Amaya Perez did not object to any of these comments in the trial court, a typical requirement to preserve a complaint for appellate review. See TEX. R. APP. P. 33.1(a). But the Court of Criminal Appeals has held that claims of improper judicial comments raised under article 38.05 are not forfeitable rights. Proenza v. State, 541 S.W.3d 786, 801 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017). Rather, “the right to be tried in a proceeding devoid of improper judicial commentary is at least a category-two, waiver-only right.” Id. Because the record does not show that Amaya Perez “waived his right to his trial judge’s compliance with Article 38.05, his statutory claim in this matter is not forfeited and may be urged for the first time on appeal.” See id. 4 A. Standard of Review

A trial court “has broad discretion in the manner it chooses to conduct voir

dire, both as to the topics that will be addressed, and the form and substance of the

questions that will be employed to address them.” Jacobs v. State, 560 S.W.3d 205,

210 (Tex. Crim. App. 2018). But article 38.05 prohibits a judge from making “any

remark calculated to convey to the jury his opinion of the case.” TEX. CODE CRIM.

PROC. art. 38.05. To constitute reversible error under article 38.05, “the comment

must be such that it is reasonably calculated to benefit the State or prejudice the

defendant’s rights.” Proenza v. State, 541 S.W.3d 786, 791 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017)

(quotation omitted); see Joung Youn Kim v. State, 331 S.W.3d 156, 160 (Tex.

App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2011, pet. ref’d) (stating that trial court improperly

comments on weight of evidence if comment implies approval of State’s argument,

indicates any disbelief in defense position, or diminishes credibility of defense’s

approach to case).

Typically, error is subject to non-constitutional harm analysis under Rule of

Appellate Procedure 44.2(b). But Amaya Perez contends that his asserted error—a

judge who is not impartial—is structural and therefore does not require harm to be

reversible. See Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 309–10 (1991) (stating that

trial judge who was not impartial is “structural defect[] in the constitution of the trial

mechanism” and not subject to harm analysis). We disagree.

5 The Court of Criminal Appeals has repeatedly applied the Rule 44.2(b) harm

standard to a claim that a trial judge’s comments violated article 38.05. E.g., Irsan

v. State, 708 S.W.3d 584, 606 (Tex. Crim. App. 2025) (“[T]o obtain a reversal on an

Article 38.05 violation, the claimant must show that the violation was harmful, that

is, he must show that it affected his substantial rights.”) (quotation omitted).

“[W]hen only a statutory violation is claimed, the error must be treated as non-

constitutional for the purpose of conducting a harm analysis.” See Proenza, 541

S.W.3d at 801 (holding that court of appeals erred by applying harm standard for

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Related

Arizona v. Fulminante
499 U.S. 279 (Supreme Court, 1991)
King v. State
953 S.W.2d 266 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Riney v. State
28 S.W.3d 561 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
JOUNG YOUN KIM v. State
331 S.W.3d 156 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Nwosoucha v. State
325 S.W.3d 816 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Owens v. State
540 S.W.2d 324 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1976)
Armstrong v. State
340 S.W.3d 759 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Angelo R. Carrillo v. State
98 S.W.3d 789 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Thomas v. State
505 S.W.3d 916 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Proenza, Abraham Jacob
541 S.W.3d 786 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2017)
Jacobs v. State
560 S.W.3d 205 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Tatmon v. State
815 S.W.2d 588 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Gonzalez v. State
544 S.W.3d 363 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2018)

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