Court Opinion

ID: 9779164
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:39:05.436438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:22.822560
License: Public Domain

BENAVIDES, Justice,
concurring.
The majority, citing McDonald v. State, 513 S.W.2d 44 (Tex.Crim.App.1974) and Vandefifer v. State, 682 S.W.2d 605 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1984, no pet.), finds that because the appellant testified at the trial below that he had previously been a church goer1 and that he loved his step-daughter J.M. (the alleged victim) and her brother D.M., the evidence of extraneous offenses against other step-children L.M. and M.C. were admissible to rebut a false impression.
Although not necessary to its holding, the Court of Criminal Appeals in Boutwell v. State approved McDonald for the proposition that evidence of extraneous offenses could be admitted to rebut the impression that a defendant was a church going man and not likely to commit the charged offense. Boutwell v. State, 719 S.W.2d 164, 179 (Tex.Crim.App.1986) (opinion on motion for rehearing). I do not interpret the Boutwell case as authority for the proposition that appellant’s statements in and of themselves open the flood gates of extraneous offenses. Indeed it would seem that Boutwell would condemn the application of the McDonald case insofar as to create an automatic or rote exception to the general rule excluding the admission of extraneous offenses. The approval of McDonald in the wake of the actual holdings in Bout-well must hinge on the particular factors existing in McDonald which as a whole created the false impression or defensive theory sought to be rebutted.
The factors in McDonald do not exist in the case before us nor can I equate appellant’s statement that he previously attended church with a per se attempt to create an impression that he did not or could not commit the offense charged.
Furthermore, the facts and testimony of the accused in the Vandefifer case which might be properly described as an attempt to create a false impression, are not present in the case before us on appeal. In Vandefifer, the male defendant had testified and presented evidence that he was not a bisexual or a homosexual, and was a loving father who loved his children and was incapable of engaging in the alleged misconduct. The male victim of the extraneous offense in Vandefifer was the son of the accused whom the accused professed to love.
Here, the appellant testified at trial that he had provided care for both J.M. and her brother D.M. Appellant, after initially stating that he had mixed feelings about J.M., testified that he loved both J.M. and *500D.M. The appellant did not profess his love for the victims of the extraneous offense, nor did his statements present a defensive theory that should properly allow a rebuttal by the introduction of evidence of the extraneous offenses against L.M. and M.C.
However, because I agree with the majority that the gratuitous testimony offered by appellant on re-direct that he had not abused his other children opened the door for the subsequent admission of the extraneous offenses, I concur with the result reached by the majority and would affirm appellant’s conviction.

. Appellant’s testimony was that he had been a churchgoer, but his faith had been shaken and he no longer attended.