Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Offers Experiences, Insight
Angelina College’s Psychology Club on Thursday hosted a presentation featuring a very distinguished guest who emphasized the importance of their chosen field of study.
Judge Kevin Yeary of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals offered insight from his years of experience – he once served as a law clerk for the late Honorable Bill White – while also fielding questions from students and faculty inside Hudgins Hall Auditorium on the AC campus.
“I’m so proud of the students here at Angelina College,” Yeary said. “One of the things in life that is the hardest to learn is to have initiative, and to have dreams, and to pursue ideas in order to make things happen.
“When I was younger, I’m not sure I would have had the same initiative the students in this club have.”
Yeary explained how he works in a field in which “we wrestle with ideas that are at least tangentially – and sometimes directly – related to areas of psychology.”
“We address issues related to the mind and psychology almost every day where I work,” Yeary said. “Criminal law has a tremendous focus on people’s mental states. We’re constantly considering whether a person committing an act acted voluntarily, of their own volition, to consider whether it becomes a criminal act.
“But we also have to consider whether someone possessed the required mental state to commit the crime. We have a hierarchy of mental states to determine the crime and the requisite punishment.”
Yeary offered several examples of “mitigating circumstances” when determining one’s actions, whether involving alcohol, narcotics and other issues influencing human behavior. Included in the factors affecting one’s action, Yeary said, is “mental competence.”
“Many times we see those who are not necessarily as attached to reality as the rest of us in the room,” Yeary said. “When that happens, we have to determine whether a person is competent to stand trial, and those are cases in which the court immediately turns to psychologists and psychiatrists to help us resolve whether a person should stand trial or whether they need help in regaining their faculties.”
Finally, Yeary reminded that the entire court system depends on “humans” working together, including “fixing mistakes” based on human error – thus the need for Court of Appeals. “What I really want to convey is there’s a myriad of ways mental states and psychology play into criminal law and our criminal justice system,” Yeary said. “I’m not an expert in psychology, but I rely on those who are and the testimony they might give to help me reach the right conclusions.”
Yeary was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014. In addition, Yeary, a graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, serves as the Court’s liaison to the State Bar of Texas Criminal Pattern Jury Charge Committee, and he serves on the board of the Texas State Law Library.
Angelina College’s Lead Psychology instructor Benetha Jackson serves as the Psychology Club sponsor, and student Tommy Cole serves as club president.
For further information regarding AC’s Psychology Club and other programs, contact Benetha Jackson at bjackson@angelina.edu.
For information related to this release, contact Gary Stallard at gstallard@angelina.edu.
