Court Opinion

ID: 9777550
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:15:06.624243+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:56.127082
License: Public Domain

OVERSTREET, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the Court that appellant’s conviction be affirmed. For the reasons advanced in Ford v. State, 919 S.W.2d 107 (Tex.Cr.App. delivered February *10421, 1996) and the following reasons, I write to distinguish my beliefs.
The principal concern regarding the admissibility of victim impact evidence at the punishment stage of a capital murder trial is its relevancy regarding the special issues which the sentencing jury is required to answer. If the trial court can conclude that the impact of the murder on the victim’s family is relevant to the jury’s decision concerning whether a life or death sentence is more appropriate and that it has probative value which outweighs its prejudicial effect and that it is not unfairly prejudicial, then such evidence would be admissible under the rules of evidence. Tex.R.Crim.Evid. 401, 402 and 403.
I strongly believe that the character of the victim (victim character evidence), good or bad, is never admissible for the purpose of placing some sort of value (positive or negative) on the life of the victim. In so far that the opinion addresses those issues consistent with my stated belief, I join.