Alkayyali v. State
713 S.W.3d 780
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas. Delivered: May 7, 2025. PD-0290-23.
The legal issue
Tareq Alkayyali was tried in Tarrant County for the murder of his wife, Wasam Moussa. Causation was contested at trial. Ms. Moussa had a pre-existing heart condition; the medical evidence was disputed.
The jury charge had a problem the parties did not catch at trial. The application paragraph—the part that tells the jury what facts must be found beyond a reasonable doubt to convict—authorized a conviction on intent to cause serious bodily injury and an act clearly dangerous to human life, but never required the jury to find that Mr. Alkayyali caused his wife’s death. The “causes the death of” element was missing from the operative jury instruction.
No one objected. The jury convicted.
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals reversed for egregious harm. The State petitioned for discretionary review.
What the Court held
The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the reversal. Justice Newell announced the judgment of the Court. Due process and the right to a jury trial require a finding beyond a reasonable doubt on every element of the offense. Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 477 (2000); In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364 (1970). When a contested element is omitted from the application paragraph, the jury is not asked to find it. That is structural error in operation if not in name, and on this record it caused egregious harm.
Reversed. The case returns to the trial court.
Read the opinion
Appellate counsel: Heather Lytle and Mark Bennett.