Montgomery v. State

773 S.W.2d 569, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3462, 1988 WL 162826
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 6, 1988
DocketNos. 05-87-00677-CR, 05-87-00678-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 773 S.W.2d 569 (Montgomery v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery v. State, 773 S.W.2d 569, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3462, 1988 WL 162826 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

HOWELL, Justice,

dissenting.

I must dissent from the majority’s rote application of Boutwell v. State, 719 S.W.2d 164 (Tex.Crim.App.1986) (on reh’g) and misapplication of Rose v. State, 752 S.W.2d 529, 552 (Tex.Crim.App.—1988) (on reh’g). For the reasons that follow, I believe that appellant’s conviction should be reversed and a new trial ordered.

Appellant was charged in two indictments with the offenses of indecency with a child under the age of 17 years. See TEX.PEN.CODE ANN. § 21.11(a)(1) (Vernon 1974). The child complainants named in the indictments were appellant's two minor daughters aged eight and five at the time of the alleged offenses. Each child testified that appellant placed his hand on her genital area.

During the State’s case in chief, appellant’s ex-wife testified at length. She testified that appellant often walked about the home naked with an erection in the presence of the two young complainants. Appellant’s trial counsel objected vigorously on the grounds that this testimony constituted inadmissable evidence of an extraneous offense. The objection was overruled by the trial court and the testimony was allowed.

The majority holds that the “probative value of the evidence outweighed any possibility of prejudice” on grounds that the evidence revealed the “familial relationship which provided the context of the charged offense.” The majority’s analysis is cursory; a closer examination of the underlying principles reveals that, if the Boutwell analysis be correctly applied, the extraneous offense was improperly admitted.

THE EVIDENCE WAS SUPERFLUOUS

The Boutwell rationale for admission of extraneous sexual offenses between the complainant and the defendant was because the “evidence from a child, standing alone, might be considered implausible or incredible.” Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 175. [emphasis added]. However, such was not the case here. We do not have the children’s testimony “standing alone.” There was testimony from appellant's ex-wife that when she bathed the younger girl, the child became agitated when the ex-wife approached her genital area. This little girl also showed signs of a yeast infection and had an odoriferous vaginal discharge.

A caseworker from the Department of Human Services testified that these children displayed classic signs common to sex abuse victims. Her testimony tended to shore up the State’s case and make the children’s accusation more plausible. See Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 178 (extraneous [570]*570offense evidence is admissible when the State’s case needs to be shored up). In the opinion of this writer, the testimony that appellant walked about the house nude with an erection does not “explain the charged act and ... [and provide a view of] such an unnatural act in light of the relationship of the parties.” See Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 175. In fact, the ex-wife testified that appellant walked about the house naked not for sexual gratification, but as an anatomical lesson to the children. She testified that his conduct was intended to show the children that nudity was nothing to ashamed of and to instruct the children as to the physical characteristics of the male. Her testimony negates the inference that he did so in pursuit of sexual pleasure.

Although the great majority of society would doubtless condemn such display of nudity, we must acknowledge that a significant segment adamantly argues that there is nothing wrong with nudity. We also know that primitive societies around the world have accepted nudity as normal. In final analysis, the brand of “unnatural” reflects no more than the contemporary attitude of the majority of society in this comer of the world.

Properly viewed, the probative value of the extraneous offense evidence under challenge was slight, particularly inasmuch as no effort was made to show that it occurred close in time to the indicted offenses.

On the other hand, it was, beyond doubt highly prejudicial to defendant for the very reason just mentioned; it painted him as a person whose views of nudity and the display thereof were far out of the social mainstream. In short, the shock value far exceeded the evidentiary value to the effect that the indicted offenses actually occurred.

THE EVIDENCE WAS ADMITTED PREMATURELY

The evidence of the extraneous offense was admitted on the first day of trial through the second witness for the State. At this point, neither complainant had testified or had been in any manner impeached. Boutwell expressly states that “extraneous sex offenses between the complainant and the defendant are not admissible until the defendant denies the act or undermines the credibility of the complainant in some fashion.” Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 178. See also Mannie v. State, 738 S.W.2d 751, 757 n. 2 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1987, pet. ref'd) (defendant’s plea of not guilty does not undermine State’s case). Following Boutwell, premature admission of extraneous offenses has been held to be reversible error. See Cruz v. State, 737 S.W.2d 74, 77-78 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 1987, no pet). Although some courts of appeals have allowed premature admission of extraneous offenses on the theory that, because defendant later undermined the State’s case, the error was harmless, see Box v. State, 730 S.W.2d 862, 864 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1987, no pet.); Mannie, 738 S.W.2d at 757 n. 2, this writer urges that Boutwell should be strictly followed on this point. Mannie pointed out the danger of allowing extraneous offense evidence before credibility of the complainants is attacked:

[T]o admit evidence of an extraneous offense at the outset of trial may force the defendant to make a more desperate attack than he would have otherwise chosen to make.

Mannie, 738 S.W.2d at 757 n. 2.

Boutwell represents a very “narrow” exception to the well established rule prohibiting admission of extraneous offenses. Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 177. The majority opinion, in the opinion of this writer, constitutes a wedge calculated to split wide that which the Court of Criminal Appeals has labelled as a narrow exception.

THE OFFENSES ARE DISSIMILAR

Appellant was indicted for the offense commonly known as “fondling”, i.e. placing his hand on the genitals of the minor complainant. The extraneous offense is commonly known as indecent exposure, i.e., exposing his genitals. To this writer, a question exists whether the extraneous offense was “an act which occurred between the minor complainant and the defendant.” Boutwell, 719 S.W.2d at 175. Boutwell [571]*571allowed admission of extraneous sex offenses to convey to the jury the fact that the charged offense did not occur “in a vacuum as a one-time act.” Id. Such language strongly implies a requirement that the extraneous offense be identical to the charged offense.

The cases decided in the wake of Bout-well tend to bear this out. See, e.g., Meyers v. State,

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Related

Montgomery v. State
821 S.W.2d 314 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
773 S.W.2d 569, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3462, 1988 WL 162826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-v-state-texapp-1988.