Ex Parte Luis Angel Martinez Hernandez v. the State of Texas

In the
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-23-00207-CR

EX PARTE LUIS ANGEL MARTINEZ HERNANDEZ

On Appeal from the County Court
Kinney County, Texas
Trial Court No. 10984CR

Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Stevens
MEMORANDUM OPINION

Luis Angel Martinez Hernandez appeals the trial court’s order in this Operation Lone

Star (OLS) case, which denied his application for a writ of habeas corpus without an evidentiary

hearing. In line with the precedent of the Fourth Court of Appeals, we previously determined

that Hernandez’s claim was cognizable, a decision upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal

Appeals in Ex parte Aparicio, No. PD-0461-23, 2024 WL 4446878, at *8 (Tex. Crim. App.

Oct. 9, 2024). In this case, Hernandez was denied the benefit of an evidentiary hearing, while

Ex parte Aparicio was decided after a full evidentiary hearing. Even so, the Texas Court of

Criminal Appeals reversed our decision requiring the trial court to conduct any evidentiary

hearing. Instead, they remanded this matter to us to decide whether Hernandez made a prima

facie showing that he was arrested and prosecuted because of his gender.1

As part of OLS, Hernandez, a noncitizen, was arrested for trespassing on private property

in Kinney County, Texas. He filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus seeking dismissal

of the criminal charge based on a violation of his rights under the United States Constitution’s

Equal Protection Clause and the Texas Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment. See U.S.

CONST. amend. XIV; TEX. CONST. art. 1, § 3(a). Specifically, Hernandez argued the State’s

selective prosecution of men, and not similarly situated women, for criminal trespass as part of

OLS violated his state and federal equal protection rights.

In Ex parte Aparicio, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals discussed evidence introduced

at the evidentiary hearing in that case, which also pertained to the administration of OLS cases in

1
Originally appealed to the Fourth Court of Appeals, this case was transferred to this Court by the Texas Supreme
Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001 (Supp.).
2
Kinney County. Ex parte Aparicio, 2024 WL 4446878, at *12–13. For the reasons discussed in

Ex parte Aparicio, we find that Hernandez would be unable to make a prima facie showing that

he was arrested and prosecuted because of his gender.

As a result, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Hernandez’s pretrial writ of habeas

corpus.

Scott E. Stevens
Chief Justice

Date Submitted: December 11, 2024
Date Decided: December 19, 2024

Do Not Publish

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