Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
A Liberty County jury convicted Charlie Leon Rhodes of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. During a November 2024 pursuit, a state trooper saw Rhodes throw an item into the woods and later recovered a handgun from that location.
The indictment relied on a 2013 felony conviction to establish Rhodes’s status as a felon. It also alleged 2015 and 2022 felony convictions to enhance his punishment under Texas’s habitual-offender statute. Rhodes pleaded true to the enhancement allegations, and the jury sentenced him to twenty-seven years and six months in prison.
The Court’s Holding
The Sixth Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the evidence supported habitual-offender punishment. The relevant date of the charged firearm offense was November 26, 2024—the date Rhodes allegedly possessed the firearm—not the date of the 2013 conviction that established his felon status.
Because Rhodes’s 2015 conviction became final, he later committed another felony resulting in a final 2022 conviction, and both convictions preceded the 2024 firearm offense, the statutory sequence for habitual-offender enhancement was satisfied. Using the 2013 conviction as an element of the firearm offense did not prevent the State from using the later convictions for punishment enhancement.
Key Takeaways
- For unlawful firearm possession by a felon, the charged offense occurs when the defendant possesses the firearm, not when the defendant first acquires felon status.
- Prior felony convictions from 2015 and 2022 satisfied the habitual-offender sequence because both preceded Rhodes’s 2024 firearm offense and occurred in the required order.
- A plea of true generally relieves the State of proving enhancement allegations, although a defendant may still challenge an enhancement that the record affirmatively shows was legally improper.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that the conviction establishing felon status is distinct from the date on which the firearm-possession offense is committed. Later convictions may therefore qualify as prior felonies for habitual-offender sentencing if they became final in the required sequence before the defendant possessed the firearm.