Court Opinion

ID: 9774412
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:19:39.792074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:08.148787
License: Public Domain

STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
DOUGLAS, Judge,
dissenting.
On original submission, a panel reversed this conviction because two extraneous offenses were improperly admitted. The majority now overrules the State’s motion for rehearing without written opinion. This writer is convinced that the error, if any, in admitting the extraneous offenses was harmless.
Two key factors which can be used to determine whether admission of an extraneous offense is harmless are the amount of evidence to establish the defendant’s guilt and the number and nature of other offenses which are properly admitted. Thrush v. State, 515 S.W.2d 122 (Tex.Cr.App.1974); see Nixon v. State, 572 S.W.2d 699 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). The evidence of appellant’s guilt was overwhelming. Three eyewitnesses identified him and his fingerprint was found on a cash register. His defense was that he was not there and that he did not commit the offense. He could not state where he was on the day in question. Evidence of four similar robberies committed by appellant provided further proof of identity. In addition to his overwhelming proof of guilt, the improperly admitted offenses were of relative unimportance compared to the properly admitted offenses. This could have added little, if any, to the finding of guilt or in the assessment of punishment. The improper evidence, according to the majority, concerned a burglary and theft of a car. The proper evidence concerned four armed robberies. *698Under these circumstances, a theft and burglary could have only a negligible influence on the jury.
The panel acknowledges the four extraneous robberies were admissible on the issue of identity but the burglary and theft were “not admissible upon any issue.” The panel, therefore, concludes that the evidence was not harmless error.
Thrush v. State, supra, involved a similar situation. Thrush was convicted of robbery by assault. Evidence of several robberies and burglaries was admitted to refute the defensive theory of duress. A tape recording suggesting that Thrush was involved with marihuana and pills was also admitted. We held that these references were improperly admitted. However, we concluded that the error was harmless “in light of the numerous robberies and other extraneous offenses which were clearly admissible, and in light of the overwhelming evidence of appellant’s guilt.”
The drug offenses in Thrush were also “not admissible upon any issue.” Yet, the Court concluded their admission was harmless error because of the overwhelming evidence of guilt and the properly admitted extraneous offenses. The panel neither overrules nor distinguishes Thrush.
The evidence of guilt was overwhelming and the four extraneous robberies make the theft and burglary appear insignificant. The car taken during the burglary the night before was used in the robbery in the present case. This was part of the continuing transaction to commit the robberies and it was admissible.
The holding of Thrush should be applied to the instant case and the judgment should be affirmed.
ODOM, TOM G. DAVIS and W. C. DAVIS, JJ., join in this dissent.