A Harris County man sentenced to 50 years in prison for breaking into his ex-wife's home and shooting her is now caught in a legal tangle after a judge granted him a new trial, only for an appeals court to rule there was nothing left to appeal. Aaron Bayne Wright was convicted in connection with the 2021 shooting of his ex-wife, and the case's unusual path through the courts has left its final outcome unresolved.
Wright was convicted of burglary with intent to commit other felonies and aggravated assault of a family member resulting in serious bodily injury, according to ABC13. He was also convicted of aggravated assault of a family member under Texas Penal Code section 22.02(b), per court records published by Justia. A jury handed down two 50-year prison sentences to be served concurrently, and Wright was remanded into custody following the guilty verdict after previously being free on bond, the outlet reported.
Harris County deputies said Wright cut the power to his ex-wife's home, broke in through a back window and shot her while their children were asleep inside, according to the same ABC13 account. Deputies said at the time that Wright shot Andrea Bolton four times, though a separate report from Fox 26 Houston said a jury sentenced Wright to 50 years for allegedly shooting his ex-wife five times. The discrepancy between the two accounts has not been resolved.
A New Trial Upends the Case
Wright received his 50-year sentence in May 2025, the station's report noted. But just two months later, on July 15, 2025, the 263rd District Court of Harris County granted Wright's motion for a new trial, according to the Justia court record. Wright's attorneys had sought the new trial based on alleged prosecutorial misconduct, Fox 26 Houston reported.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office quickly moved to challenge that decision, filing an appeal of the order granting Wright a retrial, per the same account from the station. That appeal remains pending in appellate case numbers 14-25-00603-CR and 14-25-00604-CR, according to the Justia filing.
Appeals Court Dismisses Wright's Own Appeal as Moot
While the State's challenge to the new-trial order was still pending, Wright had also filed his own appeal from his original conviction. But the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals dismissed that appeal in August, ruling that the trial court's grant of a new trial had rendered Wright's appeal from his conviction moot, since there was no longer a final conviction to review, the court record states. The appellate panel denied Wright's motion to abate the case and dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, according to the same filing.
The case has moved from a jury conviction and lengthy sentence to a trial-court order wiping that conviction away, and now sits in continued appellate litigation over its procedural footing, the Justia record shows. The provided court filings do not establish whether Wright's conviction and sentence were ultimately reinstated, nor do they clarify his current custody status.
