Goode v. State

In Goode v. State, 740 S.W.2d 453 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987), both defendants urged pre-trial motions for severance, and introduced evidence of their intent to pursue antagonistic defenses. Goode also argued that trial under such circumstances would deprive her of peremptory challenges to which she was entitled. The trial court denied the motions to sever, and the defendants were forced to have a joint trial. During trial, the judge found there was antagonism and "mutually exclusive defenses" between the defendants, granted Goode's co-defendant a severance, and continued Goode's trial, denying her motion for a mistrial. The court of criminal appeals reversed, concluding that because Goode was not "tried together" with a co-defendant under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 35.15(a), she was effectively denied the number of peremptory strikes due.