Chavez, Facundo v. the State of Texas

Summary

The court affirmed the capital-murder conviction and death sentence, rejecting challenges concerning jury selection, the defendant's absence from pretrial status hearings, excluded testimony, lesser-included-offense instructions, penalty-phase evidence, jury deliberations, a mistrial, mitigation instructions, and a motion-for-new-trial hearing. The court held that the jury-selection claim and individualized-sentencing claim were not preserved, while the remaining claims failed on the merits or involved no harmful error. No separate opinions were filed.