Villarreal v. Texas · ¶13

The judge and Villarreal's counsel engaged in an extended back-and-forth over the scope of the order. In the end, the trial judge left Villarreal's attorneys with this directive: “[A]sk yourselves before you talk to [Villarreal] about something, is this something that—manage[s] his testimony in front of the jury?” 707 S. W. 3d 138, 142 (Tex. Crim. App. 2024). Addressing Villarreal, the judge clarified: “I'm not telling you, you can't talk to them.” Ibid. Indeed, the judge recognized that Villarreal had “a constitutional right to confer” with his attorneys about certain topics. Ibid. “For instance, suppose . . . you need to start talking . . . about possible sentencing issues, you can do that.” Ibid. But to the extent Villarreal's lawyers wished to “manage” his testimony, the judge placed that off limits. Ibid.

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