Ex Parte Luis Gustavo Ventura Gil v. the State of Texas

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

No. 06-23-00215-CR

EX PARTE LUIS GUSTAVO VENTURA GIL

On Appeal from the County Court
Kinney County, Texas
Trial Court No. 12027CR

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

Luis Gustavo Ventura Gil 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 Gil’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, Gil 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 Gil made a prima facie showing that he was arrested and

prosecuted because of his gender.1

As part of OLS, Gil, 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, Gil 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 Gil 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 Gil’s pretrial writ of habeas corpus.

Jeff Rambin
Justice

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

Do Not Publish

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