Lonnie Clemont Encalade was civilly committed as a sexually violent predator under Chapter 841 of the Health and Safety Code after a Harris County jury found he met the definition.¹

The First Court of Appeals affirmed the commitment judgment June 22, 2023 (No. 01-22-00278-CV, memorandum opinion) and denied rehearing and en banc reconsideration September 24, 2024. Encalade petitioned for review December 4, 2024 and moved to dismiss December 13, 2024. On January 10, 2025, without hearing argument or considering the merits, the Court granted the motion, granted the petition, vacated the court of appeals' and trial court's judgments and dismissed the case as moot; the docket gives no reason. No response to the petition appears on the docket.

Petition for review from the First Court of Appeals; granted, judgments vacated, and case dismissed as moot on the petitioner's motion under Rule of Appellate Procedure 56.2 (January 10, 2025 orders).

The petition raised five issues: whether the court of appeals wrongly treated his constitutional challenge to the SVP statute as waived on technicalities, decided an issue not presented, misapplied Rule of Evidence 705 to limit cross-examination about a letter the State's expert relied on, put a civil procedure rule above the statutory sanction, and ignored defects that made the State's expert testimony conclusory.¹ The Court did not reach them.

Encalade (Petitioner): the court of appeals was hyper-technical about briefing, elevated a civil rule over Chapter 841, limited cross-examination contrary to Rule 705, and accepted conclusory expert testimony.¹

The order rests on the motion to dismiss; the Court did not consider the petition's reasons for review (January 10, 2025 orders).

None noted