Texas Department of Public Safety v. Anonymous Adult Texas Resident
This text of Texas Department of Public Safety v. Anonymous Adult Texas Resident (Texas Department of Public Safety v. Anonymous Adult Texas Resident) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-11-00602-CV
Texas Department of Public Safety, Appellant
v.
Anonymous Adult Texas Resident, Appellee
FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 261ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. D-1-GN-10-000869, HONORABLE TIM SULAK, JUDGE PRESIDING
CONCURRING OPINION
I concur in the majority’s judgment. For substantially the same reasons identified in
the majority’s opinion, I agree that the elements of the Massachusetts offense of indecent assault and
battery on a person over fourteen years of age are not substantially similar to the elements of the
Texas offense of sexual assault.
I do not agree, however, with the majority’s conclusion that the Sex Offender
Registration Act (SORA)1 allows consideration of the “facts and circumstances” underlying
out-of-state criminal convictions in certain “unusual cases.” While I recognize that this Court’s
opinion in Texas Department of Public Safety v. Garcia2 expanded SORA’s inquiry to look into the
conduct underlying the out-of-state conviction, I find no support for that expansion in SORA’s text.
1 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. arts. 62.001–.408 (West 2006 & Supp. 2011). 2 Texas Department of Public Safety v. Garcia, 327 S.W.3d 898, 905–06 (Tex. App.—Austin 2010, pet. denied). The plain language of SORA confines the inquiry to whether the elements of the out-of-state offense
are “substantially similar” to the elements of a SORA offense.3 In that respect, I would have decided
Garcia differently.
Accordingly, I join in the judgment and, with these qualifications, the majority’s opinion.4
__________________________________________
Jeff Rose, Justice
Before Chief Justice Jones, Justices Pemberton and Rose; Concurring Opinion by Justice Rose, joined by Justice Pemberton
Filed: August 30, 2012
3 See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 62.001(5)(H). 4 Justice Pemberton joins in this concurrence.
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