Cases Dealing With ''Repeat Offenders'' In Texas

In the Phillips v. State case, the court found because the two previous felony convictions were not sequential the defendant could not be punished under section 12.42(d), but was only punishable at "the level of a repeat offender" under section 12.42(a)(3). Phillips v. State, 964 S.W.2d 735, 737 (Tex. App.--Waco 1998), rev'd on other grounds, 992 S.W.2d 491 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). Likewise, in Henry v. State, 948 S.W.2d 338, 341 (Tex. App.--Dallas 1997, no pet.), the court found the defendant's primary theft offense was the basis of his conviction for a state jail felony; that conviction, following his prior final conviction for murder, subjected him to third-degree felony punishment, under section 12.35(c)(2)(A); and a prior conviction of possession of a controlled substance enhanced the third-degree felony punishment to second-degree felony punishment, under section 12.42(a)(3).