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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
"Sexual Crime Online (e.g., enticing minor in chatroom for sex)" |
Sentence: |
8 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Harris |
City of Crime: |
Houston |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Fredrichee Douglas Smith was wrongly convicted of online solicitation of a minor in Harris County, Texas. In 2008 when the alleged actions occurred Smith was a 22-year-old life-guarding swimming instructor and the minor was a 14-year-old girl. Smith was sentenced to eight years in prison. Smith appealed his convictions, and after briefing was finished the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in Ex parte Lo, 424 S.W.3d 10 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) that Texas' online solicitation of a minor statute was unconstitutional. The appeals court did not consider Lo in affirming his conviction. Smith filed for discretionary review by the Court of Criminal Appeals of the appeals court's ruling, asserting that "the trial court had no jurisdiction to render a judgment on a non-existent offense, thus his conviction on the basis of an unconstitutional statute is a denial of due process, due course of law, and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment." The State objected that Smith had waived the issue by not objecting to the statute's unconstitutionality in the trial court. The Court accepted review. On June 24, 2015 the Court court reversed Smith's conviction and ordered dismissal of his indictment, ruling that "We have recognized that "an unconstitutional statute is void from its inception" and that "`when a statute is adjudged to be unconstitutional, it is as if it had never been'" and that such "an unconstitutional statute is stillborn[.]" ... We have also said "that an unconstitutional statute in the criminal area is to be considered no statute at all." ... Appellant is entitled to relief. Because we have previously held that Section 33.021(b) is facially unconstitutional, there is no valid law upon which to base the conviction that appellant challenges in petition number PD-1793-13. ...Accordingly, we sustain appellant's ground for review in petition number PD-1793-13, reverse the judgment of the court of appeals in its case number 14-11-00841-CR, and render a judgment of acquittal for the online-solicitation offense based on Section 33.021(b). See Ex parte Chance, 439 S.W.3d 918 (Tex.Crim.App.2014)." Smith v. State, 463 SW 3d 890 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 2015)." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 24, 2015 the Court court reversed Smith's conviction and ordered dismissal of his indictment on the basis the online solicitation of a minor statute was unconstitutional, so he committed no crime." |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"Smith v. State, 463 SW 3d 890 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 2015) (Reversing conviction based on unconstitutionality of the statute he was convicted of violating.)" |
Information Location 1: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10445638117416952524&q=Ex+parte+Chance&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48#r[2]" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org