Donna Gayle Holcomb v. the State of Texas

A jury convicted appellant, Donna Gayle Holcomb, of the theft of property with an aggregated value of between $100,000 and $200,000, a second-degree felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 31.03(a), (b), (e)(6), 31.09 (West Supp. 2011). It assessed punishment at eleven years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. On appeal, Holcomb challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and contends that the trial court violated her rights under the federal constitution’s double jeopardy clause by naming a complainant in the jury charge and entering judgment on the jury’s guilty finding despite its disposition of that complainant’s charges by means of a directed verdict. We reform the judgment to convict Holcomb of the third-degree felony theft of property with an aggregated value between $20,000 and $100,000, vacate the sentence, and remand to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing on the third-degree felony theft conviction. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 31.03(e)(5) (West Supp. 2011).

BACKGROUND