Toliver v. State

279 S.W.3d 391, 2009 WL 127860
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 17, 2009
Docket06-08-00006-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 279 S.W.3d 391 (Toliver 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
Toliver v. State, 279 S.W.3d 391, 2009 WL 127860 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice MOSELEY.

As he sat in his Smith County jail cell, Johnathan Toliver’s outlook for the future was decidedly bleak. He had been arrested for three incidents of delivery of cocaine; two of these charges were first-degree felonies and one was a second-degree felony. The cases appeared quite strong because law enforcement officers had used Jimmy Wallace as a confidential informant and had made video recordings of each of these incidents, during which Toliver had sold Wallace cocaine. Toliver’s predicament in regard to the pending charges was exacerbated by the fact that he had previously been convicted of a felony assault; when these new charges arose, the State could use Toliver’s prior conviction for enhancement purposes. Considering the strength of the cases, the multiple charges pending against him, and the previous felony conviction, Toliver was faced with the potential of receiving as much as two life sentences, plus a twenty-year sentence.

The State maintained that Toliver concocted a plan to ameliorate the problem. The plan involved a plot by Toliver and others to have Wallace killed, silencing him forever. After the scheme was discovered, Toliver was charged with a conspiracy to murder Wallace, tried before a Smith County jury, 1 convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment, plus a fine of $10,000.00. It is from that conviction that Toliver now appeals.

Toliver’s appeal claims the trial court erred in allowing detailed evidence about the drug transactions; in denying a continuance during trial; and in denying Toliver his right to confront a co-conspirator or accomplice witness. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

1. Extraneous-Offense Evidence

Toliver first complains of the trial court’s admission of extraneous-offense evidence. The evidence of which Toliver complains regarded three sales of crack cocaine during which Wallace acted as a confidential informant.

*394 A trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. McDonald v. State, 179 S.W.3d 571, 576 (Tex.Crim.App.2005); Willover v. State, 70 S.W.3d 841, 845 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). A trial court does not abuse its discretion so long as the decision to admit evidence is within the “zone of reasonable disagreement.” Montgomery v. State, 810 S.W.2d 372, 391 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) (op. on reh’g). An appeals court may not substitute its own decision for that of the trial court. Moses v. State, 105 S.W.3d 622, 627 (Tex.Crim.App.2003). If the record supports the trial court’s decision on the admission of evidence, there is no abuse of discretion, and the decision of the trial court will not be reversed. Osbourn v. State, 92 S.W.3d 531, 537 (Tex.Crim.App.2002); Montgomery, 810 S.W.2d at 379.

Although the general rule is that evidence of extraneous crimes is not admissible, that evidence can be admitted if it satisfies the requirements of the following two-pronged test: (1) the offense is relevant to a material issue in the case, other than the issue of the defendant’s character; and (2) the probative value of the evidence is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Prieto v. State, 879 S.W.2d 295, 297 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, pet. ref d). The material issues in each case are determined by the respective theories proffered by the State and the defense. See Bush v. State, 958 S.W.2d 503, 505 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1997, no pet.). For example, evidence of extraneous crimes may be admissible to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. ' Tex.R. Evid. 404(b). If an objection is made to the admission of extraneous-offense evidence, the proponent of the evidence must then meet the burden of persuading the trial court that the evidence has relevance apart from character conformity, that it tends to establish some elemental fact (such as identity or intent), that it tends to establish some evidentiary fact (such as motive, opportunity, or preparation leading inferentially to an elemental fact), or that it rebuts a defensive theory by showing the absence of mistake or accident. Id.

A) Admission of Evidence of Toliver’s Extraneous Offenses

In May and June 2006, Toliver sold crack cocaine to Wallace, who was working as a confidential informant for the Tyler Police Department. (Toliver does not contest the allegations of delivery of controlled substance.) These deliveries formed the bases for three indictments, in which Toliver was charged with delivery of a controlled substance, less than one gram; delivery of a controlled substance, four or more grams but less than 200 grams; and delivery of a controlled substance, one or more grams but less than four grams. The first indictment alleged that the offense had been committed within 1,000 feet of a playground and that Toliver had a prior felony conviction for aggravated assault. The second indictment also alleged as an enhancement the prior felony conviction for aggravated assault. Thus, the indictments presented one second-degree felony and two first-degree felonies. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 481.112 (Vernon 2003), § 481.134 (Vernon Supp. 2008); Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.42(b) (Vernon Supp.2008). The State offered video recordings of the three drug sales, the actual crack cocaine which had been sold and purchased, testimony from a Texas Department of Public Safety chemist establishing that the substance the subject of these sales was actually cocaine, and testimony from confidential informant Wallace regarding the transactions. Toliver argues that the indictments were suffi- *395 dent evidence for the State’s evidentiary-burden and that the additional evidence was neither required nor warranted.

The State claimed to the trial court that evidence of Toliver’s sale of crack cocaine was admissible as evidence of his motive to conspire to have Wallace killed. The State pointed out that Toliver was under indictment for two first-degree felonies and a second-degree felony; he, therefore, faced the possibility of two life sentences and a sentence of up to twenty years. The State also introduced a judgment revoking the community supervision on Toliver’s previous conviction for aggravated assault (which precluded a grant of community supervision from any range of punishment should Toliver be convicted of one or more of the drug delivery charges). The State argued that the seriousness of possible penalties in those cases furnished Toliver’s motive for the conspiracy.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sifuentes v. State
494 S.W.3d 806 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Hung Phuoc Le v. State
479 S.W.3d 462 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Billy Max Collins v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014
Raymond Jerome Baker v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
Keith Freeman v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Williams v. State
356 S.W.3d 508 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Billy R. Higginbotham, Jr. v. State
356 S.W.3d 584 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Michelle Leigh Whorton v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
Curtis Leo Williams v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
Toliver v. Texas
177 L. Ed. 2d 330 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Carl Leonard Lively v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010
Cody Lance Carter v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Charles Whitley Mick v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Isaiah Hollins, JR. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Daniel Ray Elliott v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
279 S.W.3d 391, 2009 WL 127860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toliver-v-state-texapp-2009.