Comments (0) Best Appellate Judge - 2011
Terry Jennings, 1st Court of Appeals
Last year, the prosecution-lovin' judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals declared that the state's lower appellate courts could no longer reverse cases because of factual insufficiency — in essence, whenever the evidence was alarmingly weak but a jury had nevertheless convicted. Terry Jennings of the 1st Court of Appeals didn't take too kindly to the ruling. "This, respectfully, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has neither the jurisdiction nor any lawful authority to do," he wrote, before proceeding to — in a polite judicial way — tear the CCA a new you-know-what. Jennings, a former prosecutor, is no softhearted friend to criminals, but he's proven himself to be a valuable appellate judge.
