Court Opinion

ID: 9755313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:34:44.055895+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:06.174513
License: Public Domain

JOHN G. HILL, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence that Hayden, after his arrest, kicked out the back window of the patrol car and that, while being taken to jail, he kicked Deputy Carmack. Even if the evidence is relevant, what little probative value it might have is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.
The majority correctly sets forth the four principal factors to be considered in applying a Rule 403 balancing test. The first factor is how compellingly the extraneous offense evidence serves to make a fact of consequence more or less probable — a factor that is related to the strength of the evidence presented by the proponent to show the defendant in fact committed the extraneous offense. In discussing this factor, the majority concludes that the evidence in question was relevant. It specifically mentions that it is relevant to show Hayden’s ability to place another in fear of imminent bodily injury. The issue before the jury was whether Hay*650den’s words, appearance, and conduct placed the complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury, not whether Hayden had the ability to do so. Consequently, I would not characterize Hayden’s ability to place the complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury to be a fact of consequence under the facts of this case. The evidence of Hayden’s extraneous conduct was weak with respect to whether Hayden committed the charged offense. The application of a Rule 403 balancing test is really not necessary if the evidence offered has no relevance. Consequently, the issue under the first factor is not whether the evidence is relevant but how compellingly it serves to make a fact of consequence more or less probable. The majority does not really discuss whether the evidence of Hayden’s conduct subsequent to his arrest served to make a fact of consequence more or less probable other than to say it was relevant to the issue of his ability to commit the offense. It may be that the majority feels that evidence related to a defendant’s arrest is admissible even if inherently prejudicial if it has any relevance at all. However, such evidence is inadmissible if it is inherently prejudicial and has little or no relevance to any issue in the case. Smith v. State, 646 S.W.2d 452, 457 (Tex.Cr.App.1983).
Unlike the majority, I would conclude that the evidence of Hayden’s violent conduct at the time of his arrest would impress the jury in some irrational but nevertheless indelible way. Although such evidence has little if any probative value with respect to whether Hayden’s appearance, conduct, and words at the time he stole the beer placed the complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury, it does constitute evidence that Hayden is a violent person generally. Such testimony would be unfairly prejudicial to the jury determining whether his actions at the time he stole the beer placed the complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury.
I agree that the proponent needed little time to develop the evidence. As the majority notes, the State had ample evidence other than Hayden’s extraneous offenses to show the jury Hayden’s conduct, appearance, and words at the time he stole the beer. I would hold that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the evidence in question because its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.
The majority also suggests that evidence of Hayden’s violent conduct after his arrest was admissible as same transaction contextual evidence. Same transaction contextual evidence is deemed admissible where several crimes are intermixed, or blended with one another, or connected so that they form an indivisible criminal transaction, and full proof by testimony, whether direct or circumstantial, of any one of them cannot be given without showing the others. Rogers v. State, 853 S.W.2d 29, 33 (Tex.Cr.App.1993). The State had no problem showing the offense for which Hayden was charged, without the necessity of showing his violent conduct following his arrest. Hayden’s actions after his arrest were not so intermixed, blended with, or connected to the primary offense for which he was charged so as to form an indivisible criminal transaction. Evidence of these subsequent offenses was also not necessary to place in context the offense for which Hayden was charged. Consequently, the evidence does not constitute same transaction contextual evidence. The majority holds that it does, without any discussion as to how the evidence meets the criteria.
I would sustain Hayden’s issues four and five and remand this cause for further proceedings.