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Fortunato Benavides (Fortunato Pedro Benavides) was born on 3 February, 1947 in Mission, Texas, U.S., is an American judge (1947–2023). Discover Fortunato Benavides's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 76 years old?

Popular As Fortunato Pedro Benavides
Occupation N/A
Age 76 years old
Zodiac Sign Aquarius
Born 3 February 1947
Birthday 3 February
Birthplace Mission, Texas, U.S.
Date of death 5 May, 2023
Died Place Austin, Texas, U.S.
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 3 February. He is a member of famous with the age 76 years old group.

Fortunato Benavides Height, Weight & Measurements

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He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

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Fortunato Benavides Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Fortunato Benavides worth at the age of 76 years old? Fortunato Benavides’s income source is mostly from being a successful . He is from United States. We have estimated Fortunato Benavides's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
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Timeline

1947

Fortunato Pedro Benavides (February 3, 1947 – May 5, 2023) was an American judge.

1968

Born in Mission, Texas, Benavides received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1968 from the University of Houston.

1972

He received a Juris Doctor in 1972 from the University of Houston Law Center.

He was in private practice as an attorney in McAllen, Texas from 1972 to 1977, from 1980 to 1981 and from 1993 to 1994.

1977

He was a judge of the Hidalgo County, Texas Court-at-Law Number Two, from 1977 to 1979.

1981

He was a judge of the Hidalgo County, Texas Ninety Second District Court, from 1981 to 1984.

1984

He was a justice of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals of Texas, from 1984 to 1991.

1991

He was a judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, from 1991 to 1992.

1993

He was a visiting judge of the Supreme Court of Texas in 1993.

1994

From 1994 until 2023, he served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Benavides was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 27, 1994, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee.

He was confirmed by the Senate on May 6, 1994, and received his commission on May 9, 1994.

2000

In 2000, Benavides sat on a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit 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.

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 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, 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 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.

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 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 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."

In TDP v. Benkiser, Benavides weighed in on a controversial election-year ballot dispute.

2006

After Congressman Tom DeLay resigned from Congress, the Republican Party of Texas 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.

2012

He assumed senior status on February 3, 2012.

Lawyers who practiced before Benavides considered him an ideological moderate.

His opinions were distinguished by their attention to the importance of precedent.

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.