Oliver, Roy

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. PD-0845-20
ROY OLIVER, Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
FROM THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS
DALLAS COUNTY
HERVEY, J., delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. YEARY, J., filed a
concurring opinion in which SLAUGHTER, J., joined.
OPINION
Appellant, Roy Oliver, a police officer, shot a teenager leaving a high-school party
with his brothers and some friends. Appellant was convicted of murder, sentenced to 15
years’ confinement, and fined $10,000. Following the shooting, Appellant gave a
statement to an internal affairs investigator after he was told that he could be fired if he
did not. In Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 500 (1967), the Supreme Court held that
Oliver–2
statements of police-officer defendants given on threat of employment termination are
involuntary and that use of those statements by the prosecution violated the defendant
officers’ right against self-incrimination. Id. Appellant argued at trial that the initial
burden was with the State, but the trial court disagreed. The court of appeals affirmed the
ruling of the trial court in an unpublished opinion. Appellant filed a petition for
discretionary review, which we granted, asking us who bears the burden to demonstrate
that a Garrity statement was not used in any way by the prosecution. Having considered
the parties’ briefs and the record, however, we conclude that our decision to grant review
was improvident. We therefore dismiss Appellant’s petition for discretionary review as
improvidently granted.
Delivered: June 22, 2022
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