Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of November 3, 2025.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Pokhrel v. State, No. 02-25-00123-CR (Nov. 6, 2025) (Wallach, J., joined by Sudderth, C.J., and Kerr, J.).

Held:  Texas Penal Code Section 21.16(c) is one of the “revenge porn” statute’s subsections. To prevent this subsection from becoming an unconstitutional strict-liability offense, the court can apply the “knowing” or “reckless” mental state to the “without-the-consent-of-the-depicted-person” circumstances-based element. In application, then, an actor commits the offense if he or she intentionally threatens to disclose, knowing or being aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that he or she lacks the depicted person’s consent, the visual material depicting the complainant with his or her intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct and the actor makes the threat to obtain a benefit in return for not making the disclosure or in connection with the threatened disclosure.