State of Louisiana Versus Twyena Thomas, 300 So.3d 517

Defendant Twyena Thomas was indicted for second-degree murder for the death of her two-year-old son, C.T.; State alleged death occurred during commission of cruelty to a juvenile.
On scene and hospital evidence: C.T. was severely malnourished (15 lbs), dehydrated, had multiple bruises/abrasions in varying stages of healing, and autopsy showed multiple blunt-force head injuries and hemorrhages; cause of death certified as homicide.
Investigators collected blood and saliva evidence from the apartment; defendant made statements admitting she tied and struck C.T. and in a jail phone call said she "whooped" him and "accidentally killed" him.
The State sought to admit evidence under La. C.E. art. 412.4 of a prior October 15, 2015 incident in which C.T., then four months old, had significant head/facial injuries and DCFS/ER involvement; trial court admitted the evidence over defendant's objection.
A jury convicted Thomas of second-degree murder; she received life at hard labor without parole; on appeal she challenged admission of the 2015 incident under La. C.E. art. 412.4 and claimed the court failed to perform the required Article 403 balancing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of prior October 15, 2015 incident under La. C.E. art. 412.4	Prior incident involves abusive/cruelty behavior toward same child; relevant to whether defendant mistreated C.T.; probative value outweighs prejudice	Prior incident resulted in no criminal charge and is irrelevant; trial court failed to conduct Article 403 balancing before admitting it	Admission was proper: evidence relevant (same victim, similar injuries) and probative value outweighed prejudice; even if erroneous, admission was harmless given overwhelming other evidence; conviction affirmed

State v. Wright, 79 So.3d 309 (La. 2011) (Legislature relaxed similarity requirement for other-crimes evidence in sexual-offense contexts under Article 412.2; relevance/probative balancing controls)
State v. Galliano, 839 So.2d 932 (La. 2003) (Prior bad-act evidence is not per se so inflammatory as to mandate exclusion)
State v. Robertson, 183 So.3d 1287 (La. 2016) (Evidence of child abuse is highly prejudicial but is excluded only when unduly and unfairly prejudicial)
State v. Williams, 921 So.2d 1033 (La. 2006) (Erroneous admission of other-crimes evidence reviewed for harmless error)
State v. Rodgers, 202 So.3d 1189 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2016) (Prejudice limits admission only when unduly unfair; inculpatory evidence is naturally prejudicial)
State v. Kiger, 128 So.3d 552 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2013) (Standard of review for admissibility rulings: abuse of discretion)