Webb, Lester Fane, PD-0829-15

Appellant Lester Fane Webb was indicted for continuous sexual abuse; jury convicted him of the lesser-included offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment.
At trial, Webb sought to introduce a witness’s opinion testimony regarding his good character (reputation for being peaceful, law-abiding, and trustworthy around grandchildren).
The State objected under Texas Rule of Evidence 405; the trial court sustained the objection to a specific character question but the witness nonetheless provided opinion testimony on reputation after additional questioning.
Webb argued on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding the proffered character testimony and that he preserved error by an offer of proof or through the witness’s subsequent answers.
The Second Court of Appeals held Webb failed to preserve error (no formal offer of proof or concise statement) but noted trial counsel had elicited the witness’s opinion by skillful questioning; the court affirmed the conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of good-character opinion evidence under Tex. R. Evid. 404/405	Webb: Trial court erred by sustaining the State’s Rule 405 objection and excluding witness’s opinion that Webb’s character made it unlikely he committed the offense	State: Exclusion was proper and any excluded substance not preserved for review	Court: No reversible error—Webb failed to preserve error by formal offer of proof; in any event the jury heard the witness’s reputation opinion by counsel’s questioning
Preservation of error via offer of proof	Webb: He preserved error by asking questions that should have been allowed and by making an offer of proof	State: No proper offer of proof or concise statement was made as required by rules and precedent	Court: Error not preserved; although counsel elicited opinion testimony, absence of formal offer/concise statement meant no preserved error

Love v. State, 861 S.W.2d 899 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993) (offer of proof requirements for preserving evidentiary exclusion error)
Torres v. State, 71 S.W.3d 758 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002) (abuse-of-discretion standard for evidentiary rulings)
Wheeler v. State, 67 S.W.3d 879 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002) (character for peacefulness relevant in violent-offense prosecutions)
Melgar v. State, 236 S.W.3d 302 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2007) (character evidence rules and pertinent traits under Tex. R. Evid. 404/405)