Court Opinion

ID: 9771515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:46:01.553029+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:02.976571
License: Public Domain

ON STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
ROBERTS, Judge.
The State contends that our holding is in conflict with our recent decision in Hatley v. State, 533 S.W.2d 27 (Tex.Cr.App.1976). We disagree.
In Hatley, we rejected the State’s contention that its cross-examination of a defense witness opened the door to proof of the good reputation of the deceased because the State could not rely on its own questioning as an invitation to rebuttal. Furthermore, we held in that case that the defendant’s testimony did not constitute proof of the deceased’s reputation. Therefore, the only basis for rebuttal was the State’s cross-examination.
In the case at bar, appellant’s defense of self-defense was not fully developed because the trial court did not allow the appellant to testify about his knowledge of the fight between Deputy Menchaca and the witness Antu. As stated in the majority opinion on original submission, the appellant should have been allowed to testify as to this knowledge in order to show that he reasonably believed that force was immediately necessary to protect himself from Deputy Menchaca. If this had been permitted, the issue of Menchaca’s fight with Antu would not have been injected solely by the appellant's cross-examination of Menchaca. Consequently, Hatley is not applicable.
Furthermore, the State’s contention that the impeachment was on a collateral matter is based on the fact that there was no proof offered that the appellant knew of Mencha-ca’s assault upon Antu. If the appellant had been permitted to testify as to his knowledge of such assault, then it would have been put in issue by his testimony that it was a part of the basis for his belief that force was immediately necessary. Consequently, it would not have been a collateral matter.
*99For the reasons stated, the State’s contentions on rehearing are overruled.