Allen v. State (1984)

In Allen v. State, 681 S.W.2d 38, 40 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984), the court reversed the conviction because the State failed to prove either alternative. It failed to prove the first alternative because it failed to prove that Allen's license was "unexpired" at the time of the alleged offense; indeed, it was "undisputed that Allen's license expired by its own terms on January 12, 1977, over four years before the alleged offense occurred on August 9, 1981, and was not renewed." Allen, 681 S.W.2d at 40. And the State failed to prove the second alternative because Allen's "subsequent DWI convictions ... could not have operated as automatic license suspensions, since he no longer had a license to be suspended." Id. at 41.