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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Forgery |
Sentence: |
1 year suspended & 2 years community supervison |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2003 |
Year Convicted: |
2007 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Real |
City of Crime: |
Leakey |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Patricia Foster Skelton was wrongly convicted of forgery in December 2007 in Leakey, Real County, Texas. Patricia Skelton was a lawyer whose office was in Leakey. Her prosecution was based on actions related to her representation of Ysidro Canales. In May or June of 2002 Skelton prepared a will for Canales, who kept the signed original, while Skelton retained a copy. Canales died in May 2003, and his heirs couldn't find his will. Skelton located her copy, but it had been water-damaged in a flood. The will was stored on Skelton's computer, so she printed out a copy -- which lacked signatures. Skelton than physically cut the signatures from the water damaged copy she had, and pasted them onto the printed copy. Skelton made a copy of the new document that was dated August 16, 2002 and filed it as a copy of Canales will in the probate court. Skelton did not inform the court of what she had done. Skelton's secretary notified the police in September 2003 that she believed Skelton had creaded a false will for Canales. After an investigation Skelton was indicted on November 14, 2004 for forging Canale's will. Attorney Guy James Gray represented Skelton during her trial. The prosecution alleged that Skelton had committed forgery by creating the will document and filed a copy of it it without informing anyone it was not a copy of the original. Skelton testified in her defense. After her conviction by a jury Skelton was sentenced to a one year suspended prison term and two years of community supervision. Skelton hired a different lawyer to represent her in her direct appeal. On June 9, 2010 the Texas 4th Ct. of Appeals affirmed her conviction and sentence. While Skelton's direct appeal was pending a civil trial was held involving relatives contesting Canales' will and the distribution of his estate valued at $160,000. The civil jury found: "(1) Canales executed a valid will; (2) Skelton did not act with the intent to defraud or harm another when she physically altered the will; and (3) the will submitted to probate was an accurate copy of Canales’s will. Based on the jury’s verdict, a judgment was rendered on March 17, 2009 ordering that the will contestants take nothing." More than two years later Skelton filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus on September 26, 2011, "claiming that she is actually innocent, she was denied a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct, and she received ineffective assistance of counsel.” On July 10, 2013 the Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals denied her petition. Skelton filed a motion for a rehearing. The State elected not to file a response to her motion, and on May 28, 2014 the 4th Ct. of Appeals granted Skelton's motion on the basis it did not fully address one of the grounds supporting her ineffective assistance of counsel claim. and granted her writ of habeas corpus. The Court withdrew its 2013 opinion and issue a new opinion in its place in which it granted her petition on the basis her trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court vacated Skelton's conviction and remanded her case for a new trial. The Kerr County District Attorney decided not to retry her, and the DA's motion to dismiss her indictment was granted on February 6, 2015. Skelton filed a lawsuit against Gray on May 27, 2016 in which she alleged he committed legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty in her case. Gray responded by filing a Rule 91a motion to dismiss Skelton's lawsuit on the basis her legal malpractice claim was barred by Peeler v. Hughes & Luce, 909 S.W.2d 494 (Tex. 1995), "because she has not been exonerated from the underlying criminal conviction;” and 2) the statute of limitations barred her claims for both legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty." The District Court judge granted Gray's motion. Skelton appealed. On March 14, 2018 the 4th Ct. of Appeals unanimously reversed the lower court's decision, ruling that: 1) the Peeler case was misapplied because the conviction of the Plaintiff in that case had not been vacated and the charges dismissed; and, 2) Skelton filed her lawsuit claiming legal malpractice within the two year statute of limitations that commenced on February 6, 2015. However, the Court ruled that Skelton's breach of fiduciary duty was properly dismissed as untimely, because Gray's representation of her ended in December 2007 -- eight and a half years before she filed her lawsuit. The Court remanded her case for consideration of her legal malpractice claim. [All quotes are from: Patricia Skelton v. Guy James Gray, No. 04-16-00828-CV (Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals, 3-14-2018)]" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Ineffective assistance of counsel. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On May 28, 2014 the 4th Ct. of Appeals granted Skelton's motion on the basis it did not fully address one of the grounds supporting her ineffective assistance of counsel claim. and granted her writ of habeas corpus. The Court withdrew its 2013 opinion and issue a new opinion in its place in which it granted her petition on the basis her trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court vacated Skelton's conviction and remanded her case for a new trial. The Kerr County District Attorney decided not to retry her, and the DA's motion to dismiss her indictment was granted on February 6, 2015." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Patricia Skelton v. Guy James Gray, No. 04-16-00828-CV (Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals, 3-14-2018)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=27e5e483-4112-4194-8919-4c3471ebab23&MediaID=1b15e098-3102-4d09-acbf-35452afe2a6f&coa=%22%20+%20this.CurrentWebState.CurrentCourt%20+%20@%22&DT=Opinion |
Information Source 2: |
"Patricia Skelton v. Guy James Gray, No. 04-16-00828-CV (Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals, 3-14-2018) (Docket as of 3-15-2018)" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=04-16-00828-CV&coa=coa04 |
Information Source 3: |
"Ex Parte Patricia Skelton, No. 04-12-00066-CR (Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals, 5-28-2014) (Granting Skelton's motion for a rehearing and granting her writ of habeas corpus based on ineffective assistance of counsel.)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1667968.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Ex Parte Patricia Skelton, No. 04-12-00066-CR (Tex. 4th Ct. of Appeals, 7-10-2013) (Denying Skelton's writ of habeas corpus.)" |
Information Location 4: |
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1638159.html |
Information Source 5: |
"Forgery trial opens for ex-Real official, By Zeke MacCormack, San Antonio Express-News, December 9, 2007" |
Information Location 5: |
https://www.tdcaa.com/node/1631 |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org