Fortunato Benavides
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fortunato Pedro Benavides (February 3, 1947 – May 5, 2023) was an American judge. From 1994 until 2023, he served as a
United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...
.


Education and career

Born in
Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, in the US state of Texas, United States. The population was 85,778 at the 2020 census and an estimated 86,635 in 2022. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan ...
, Benavides received a
Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
degree in 1968 from the
University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...
. He received a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
in 1972 from the
University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is ...
. He was in private practice as an attorney in
McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...
from 1972 to 1977, from 1980 to 1981 and from 1993 to 1994. He was a judge of the
Hidalgo County, Texas Hidalgo County (; ) is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 870,781, making it the ninth-most populous county in Texas, and the most populous county outside of the counties in the Texas Triangle. The ...
Court-at-Law Number Two, from 1977 to 1979. He was a judge of the Hidalgo County, Texas Ninety Second District Court, from 1981 to 1984. He was a justice of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals of Texas, from 1984 to 1991. He was a judge of the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a presiding judge and eight judges. Article V ...
, from 1991 to 1992. He was a visiting judge of the
Supreme Court of Texas The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court ...
in 1993.


Federal judicial service

Benavides was nominated by President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
on January 27, 1994, to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...
vacated by Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee. He was confirmed by the Senate on May 6, 1994, and received his commission on May 9, 1994. He assumed senior status on February 3, 2012.


Jurisprudence

Lawyers who practiced before Benavides considered him an ideological moderate. His opinions were distinguished by their attention to the importance of
precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...
. Additionally, Benavides was reputed as a succinct writer. His most noteworthy rulings included ''Burdine v. Johnson'', ''Tennard v. Cockrell'' (also known as '' Tennard v. Dretke''), and ''Texas Democratic Party v. Benkiser''.


''Burdine v. Johnson''

In 2000, Benavides sat on a three-judge panel of the
Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * ...
to hear the case of Burdine v. Johnson. Burdine, who had received a death sentence for capital murder in Texas, had petitioned the federal courts for a
Writ of habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
. Burdine's central complaint was that his court-appointed attorney, Joe Cannon, had fallen asleep repeatedly during his trial. After hearing the case, Judges Rhesa Barksdale and Edith Jones ruled for the court that Burdine's claim did not, in and of itself, warrant issuance of the
writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...
and grant of a new trial. Rather, Barksdale and Jones reasoned, Burdine would have to show that he was prejudiced by his sleeping lawyer; that is, Burdine would need to show that there was a reasonable likelihood that the outcome of his trial would have been different had his lawyer not repeatedly dozed off. Benavides issued a strong dissent. Benavides wrote that it shocks the conscience that someone could be sentenced to death after being represented by a lawyer who slept through substantial portions of his trial. In Benavides' view, no further analysis was necessary to find that Burdine had been denied his right to counsel. Benavides' views were later vindicated when the entire Fifth Circuit, sitting
en banc In law, an ''en banc'' (; alternatively ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank''; ) session is when all the judges of a court sit to hear a case, not just one judge or a smaller panel of judges. For courts like the United States Courts of Appeal ...
, took up the case and reversed the panel's judgment. Writing for the en banc court, Benavides held that Supreme Court precedent provided a
presumption In law, a presumption is an "inference of a particular fact". There are two types of presumptions: rebuttable presumptions and irrebuttable (or conclusive) presumptions. A rebuttable presumption will either shift the burden of production (requir ...
of prejudice where a defendant's lawyer sleeps repeatedly throughout his trial. Both Benavides' panel dissent and his en banc opinion were covered in the New York Times.


''Tennard''

In Tennard v. Cockrell (Tennard I), Benavides applied longstanding precedent of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to an esoteric issue of death penalty law: He affirmed Tennard's death sentence, holding that Texas' capital sentencing law adequately took into account Tennard's evidence of low IQ before he was sentenced to death. The
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
took up the case, and in a sharply-worded opinion (Tennard II), held that the Fifth Circuit law Benavides had used was wrong. Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O' ...
wrote that Benavides' opinion had merely paid "lipservice" to important principles and had used a test that "has no foundation in the decisions of this Court." The case was sent back to the Court of Appeals to apply the right standards as articulated by the Supreme Court. On remand, Benavides, writing for the majority of a three-judge panel (Tennard III), reversed Tennard's death sentence using the Supreme Court's rule, holding that Texas law had failed to attach sufficient import to Tennard's low IQ evidence. In the course of his new opinion on remand, Benavides chided the Supreme Court for giving inconsistent and indeterminate guidance in the death penalty area, likening the High Court's jurisprudence to the Augean stables. Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Edwin Smith has since called the Supreme Court's Tennard opinion an unfair "tongue-lashing" that singled out the Fifth Circuit for abuse when the Court of Appeals was only trying to honestly apply the Supreme Court's own "sundry pronouncements."


''TDP v. Benkiser''

In TDP v. Benkiser, Benavides weighed in on a controversial election-year ballot dispute. After Congressman
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, DeLay represented Texas's 22nd congress ...
resigned from Congress, the
Republican Party of Texas The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the Texas affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the United States. It is currently chaired by Abraham George (politician), Abraham George, who succeeded Matt Rinaldi in 2024 ...
sought to replace him with another candidate on the ballot shortly before the 2006 election. Texas law, however, forbids candidates from being replaced in the months leading up to an election unless they are ruled ineligible. The Texas Democratic Party sued the Republican Party to stop the switch. In court, the Republican Party argued that Tom DeLay was in fact ineligible to run for Congress in Texas because he had recently moved to Virginia. Benavides, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit that included conservative Republican appointee Edith Brown Clement, ruled in favor of the Democrats. According to Benavides, the plain language of the Constitution says that candidates for Congress only need be residents of the requisite state, in this case Texas, as of election day. Since Tom DeLay had not yet failed to reside in Texas on election day (because that day had not yet come), he remained eligible. Benavides' opinion was hailed both by academics and by the press. Professor
Rick Hasen Richard L. Hasen is an American legal scholar and law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an expert in legislation, election law and campaign finance. Education Hasen received a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors (in ...
called the opinion's reasoning "solid." The Houston Chronicle wrote, "The laudable impartiality by the judges making these politically sensitive rulings should strengthen the confidence of all parties that they can get a fair day in federal court." The Washington Post applauded Benavides' ruling as both correct as a matter of constitutional law and preferable as a matter of public policy.


Death

Benavides died on May 5, 2023, at the age of 76. He was survived by his wife, Evelyn Benavides, daughters Amanda Laura Carter and Adelaide Pilar Benavides, and grandsons Noah George Carter and Milo Harrison Carter.


See also

*
List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists This is a list of Hispanic/Latino Americans who are or were judges, magistrate judges, court commissioners, or administrative law judges. If known, it will be listed if a judge has served on multiple courts. Other topics of interest * List ...


Notes


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benavides, Fortunato 1947 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Texas state court judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Hispanic and Latino American judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Lawyers from Austin, Texas People from McAllen, Texas People from Mission, Texas United States court of appeals judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Houston Law Center alumni