Court Opinion

ID: 9646526
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:02:13.10231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:38.968615
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
ONION, Presiding Judge.
On rehearing appellant urges this court did not properly dispose of his contention that the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to call witnesses at the guilt stage of the trial to testify as to his general reputation for truth and veracity. In the State’s case-in-chief officer Wilks testified that when he arrived at the scene of the homicide he asked the appellant what happened and was told that the deceased had said not to call the police, had locked himself in the office and shot himself. After the State rested its case-in-chief, the appellant testified that after an argument the deceased had rushed into the room where he (appellant) was, and that acting in self-defense, he shot and killed the deceased. On cross-examination, no questions were asked of the appellant about the statement officer Wilks related that appellant made to him.
It is appellant’s contention that officer Wilks’ testimony concerning the statement made by the appellant at the scene of the shooting was inconsistent with appellant’s later testimony and thus placed appellant’s credibility in issue and justified appellant’s request that he be allowed to call witnesses as to his reputation for truth and veracity.
The general rule is that where there is no evidence except contradictory evidence, it is not permissible to bolster the testimony of the witness by proof of his good reputation for truth and veracity. See Rodriguez v. State, 165 Tex.Cr.R. 179, 305 S.W.2d 350 (1957), and cases there cited.
In 62 Tex.Jur.2d, Witnesses, § 241, p. 192, it is stated:
“Unless testimony should be admissible on the ground that it is corroborative as to what a witness has testified to on some material issue, the rule, both in civil and in criminal cases is that impeachment of the witness by the adverse party is an essential prerequisite of the calling of witnesses to sustain him in one of the recognized ways. Applying this principle, it has been ruled that it is not permissible to introduce evidence . . . that the witness has a good reputation for veracity until his veracity has been impeached
In § 242 of the same authority, it is written:
“In conformity with the import of the terms ‘impeach’ and ‘contradict’ in this department of the law, a witness may not be supported merely because testimony in conflict with his has been introduced. To authorize the introduction of supporting testimony the witness must have been impeached in the sense that he is charged with fabricating testimony or of testifying falsely; or an attempt must have been made to show that he made a prior statement in conflict with his testimony, or has conducted himself inconsistently therewith . . . .”
In § 284 of the same authority at p. 269, it is written:
“Unless a proper predicate has been laid it is not competent for a party to show that his witness bears a good reputation for veracity, for to admit that tes*155timony without the witness’s having been impeached would be to introduce an unnecessary collateral issue.
“In accordance with the general rule, mere conflict in the evidence is not a sufficient predicate . . .
The appellant contends the general rule should not be applicable to him in light of officer Wilks’ testimony in the State’s casein-chief and his own subsequent testimony.
In Mitchell v. State, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 128, 239 S.W.2d 384, 389 (1951), a fact situation similar to the instant case, this court wrote:
“Bill of Exception No. 12 is leveled at the failure of the trial court to permit appellant to offer character witnesses’ testimony as to his good reputation for truth and veracity.
“The State, in making out its case, proved by two peace officers that upon their arrival at the scene of the homicide appellant made to them a statement as to his reason for having committed the same. When defendant took the stand, he denied having made such a statement to the officers and assigned another reason for having fired the fatal shot. Appellant claims this to be a sufficient predicate for the introduction of testimony supporting his reputation for truth and veracity and relies heavily upon Stillwell v. State, 104 Tex.Cr.R. 338, 283 S.W. 840. In that case the State had made out its case in chief; appellant had testified; had been cross-examined; and in rebuttal the State offered a confession containing statements inconsistent with appellant’s testimony. Following this, appellant offered witnesses to support his reputation for truth and veracity. These, the trial court refused to hear. Judge Lattimore pointed out that by virtue of the order of the above procedure, the State having made the issue as to the contradictory statements of appellant, he was therefor impeached and the testimony as to his reputation for truth and veracity should have been heard. The Court went further in that case and discussed White v. State, 42 Tex.Cr.R. 567, 62 S.W. 575, approving the holding therein.
“In the White case the State introduced against the accused, as a part of its case in chief, statements made by him with reference to the crime. He took the stand and swore to the contrary. He then sought to bolster his testimony by that of other witnesses. In differentiating between the Stillwell and White cases, the Court said: ‘The clear distinction is that in such case the state offers no contradictory statements to those made by appellant, but proves as original testimony his declarations and statements, and that he cannot thereafter put his character in evidence by testifying in his behalf to facts contradictory to those offered by the state.’ [104 Tex.Cr.R. 338, 283 S.W. 843].
“To sustain appellant’s contention would be to authorize every defendant to bolster his defense with witnesses as to his reputation for truth and veracity by the simple expedient of disagreeing with the State’s version of the case. The defendant himself may not create the contradiction or impeachment and profit thereby.”
See also Wallace v. State, 501 S.W.2d 883 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), quoted with approval in our panel opinion on original submission.
We remained convinced that this matter was properly disposed of on original submission.1
Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.

. It should be noted that the opinion on original submission should not be interpreted, as appellant does according to his brief, as implying that a defendant or other witness must first deny making a prior inconsistent statement before the rule in question comes into play. It may be triggered by other means as well. See 62 Tex.Jur.2d, Witnesses, § 284, p. 271.