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TEXAS’S LAW OF PARTIES: EXHAUSTING ALL PRECAUTIONS TO ENSURE THE FAIRNESS OF AN ACCOMPLICE’S CONVICTION & PUNISHMENT DYLAN W. MORGAN† I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 572 II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW OF PARTIES .......................................................................................... 574 III. THREE-STATE SAMPLE V. CANADA’S “PARTIES TO OFFENCES” ... 576 A. Three-State Sample ................................................................. 577 1. Texas ................................................................................ 577 2. Ohio................................................................................... 578 3. California ......................................................................... 579 B. Canada’s “Parties to Offences” ............................................. 580 IV. GRAPPLING WITH MENS REA .......................................................... 582 A. Enmund v. Florida & Tison v. Arizona .................................. 582 B. Categorical Approach to the Mental-State Requirement ........ 586 V. ALLEGED ACCOMPLICES & COMPLEXITIES OF PROSECUTING PARTIES TO A CRIME ...................................................................... 589 A. The Evidentiary Complexities of Multiple Parties to a Crime ...................................................................................... 589 B. Exhausting All Precautions to Ensure the Fairness of Convictions & Punishment ..................................................... 591 VI. THE DEATH PENALTY .................................................................... 592 A. A Historical Analysis of the Death Penalty ............................ 593 B. Implications of Sentencing Accomplices to Death .................. 595 1. Manipulating the Enmund & Tison Rules?....................... 595 2. The Role of Jurors in Deciding Punishment ..................... 597 VII. CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 598
† Dylan W. Morgan, J.D. Candidate, May 2018. Thank you, Professor Amanda Peters, for helping me put together this comment as well as sharing with me your experiences as a successful student, Harris County Assistant District Attorney, Appellate attorney, and Professor.
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