Lead Opinion
OPINION
A jury convicted appellant of capital murder, and the trial court sentenced him to life in prison. Appellant raises six issues on appeal. In his first four issues, appellant argues the trial court erred by: (1) admitting evidence of two extraneous offenses; (2) limiting defense counsel’s cross-examination of two State witnesses; (3) excluding a third party confession; and (4) allowing the State to argue the jury could use the fact appellant committed two extraneous offenses as evidence of his guilt in the charged offense. In issues five and six, appellant argues the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to sustain his conviction. We affirm.
Factual and PROCEDURAL Background
On March 13, 1982, at approximately 1:30 a.m., Cao Thanh Nguyen was found murdered in a convenience store. A few potential customers entered the store following the murder, discovered the victim’s body, and called the police. One of the customers noticed the register alarm was sounding. An employee at a service station across from the store testified that at approximately 1:50 on the morning of the murder, she heard tires squealing and saw a car rapidly depart from the convenience store.
Police who investigated the murder contacted the district manager of the convenience store and asked him to come to the store and turn off the register alarm. Only coins remained in the register, but officers found cash in the victim’s pocket. At the time of trial, the manager could not remember how much money was taken, but testified that store clerks were instructed to keep only $35.00 in the register to reduce robberies. Although an incident report might have been filed by the corporate owner of the convenience store, that corporation no longer exists, so any reports have been destroyed. The investigating officers collected fingerprint evidence, blood, and other evidence from the scene, but were unable to identify the person responsible for the murder.
The case was assigned to the Harris County cold case squad in May 1999.
Discussion
I. Extraneous Offenses
In issue one, appellant contends the trial court erred in admitting evidence of two extraneous offenses at the guilt — innocence phase of trial. During the guilt— innocence phase of the trial, after the State’s DNA expert was cross-examined regarding possible contamination of the DNA sample, the State sought to introduce evidence of two extraneous robberies appellant committed a decade after the present offense. The State argued that the defense, through cross-examination of the State’s witnesses, had offered defensive theories that the DNA evidence was contaminated and that the murder did not occur during the commission of a robbery. Specifically, the State argued that “the defense ... opened the door on the issue of motive, intent, mistake as to the robbery and also identity as to the individual through cross-examination of the DNA expert.” The State then described the similarities between the 1982 capital murder and the two 1992 robberies and explained the two extraneous 1992 offenses by appellant were offered to show intent, lack of mistake, and to rebut the defensive theory that the DNA results may be mistaken due to contamination.
Appellant objected to the admission of the extraneous offense evidence pursuant to Texas Rules of Evidence 403 and 404 as follows:
I object to either of those 1992 aggravated robberies. I object that they are not relevant. I object that their prejudice outweighs any probative value; that they are inadmissible character evidence as per Texas Rules [sic] of Evidence 404 and to be tried as a criminal generally violates [appellant’s] rights to due process through both the State and Federal Constitution.
The trial court found the extraneous offenses were relevant, that their probative value outweighed their prejudicial value, and they tended to show motive, intent, opportunity, and lack of mistake. The trial court granted appellant a running objection to the evidence on extraneous offenses. At defense counsel’s request, the trial court instructed the jury they could only consider evidence of the extraneous offenses “in determining the motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident of the defendant, if any, in connection with the offense, if any, alleged against him in the indictment and for no other purpose.” The extraneous offense evidence is summarized as follows:
Lam Nguyen
On December 15, 1992, Lam Nguyen was the cashier at a convenience store on Maxey Road. That morning, appellant entered and asked for cigarettes. Nguyen informed appellant that he did not have any and appellant left. Shortly thereafter, appellant re-entered the store, and asked to use the restroom. Nguyen informed him they did not have a public restroom and appellant left. Nguyen turned to wash his hands at a sink behind the front
Jennie Estrada
On December 16, 1992, Jennie Estrada was a clerk at convenience store in Southeast Houston. Appellant entered the store at night and asked to use the restroom. Estrada explained to him that they did not have a public restroom. Appellant then asked about an older Asian man who worked at the store, and Estrada informed him that Nahija was not working at the time. Appellant left and later returned with his hand behind his back, and asked for cigarettes. Appellant then raised a crowbar in a threatening manner and Estrada backed up and grabbed the phone to call the police. Appellant hit the no-sale button on the register, it opened, and he took all of the cash, but not the coins. Appellant then left the store and drove off in a car. Thereafter, Estrada identified appellant in a line-up.
A. Rule 404
Generally, evidence of a person’s character or character trait is not admissible for the purpose of proving action in conformity therewith on a particular occasion. Tex.R. Evid. 404(a). Evidence of other crimes, however, may be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. Tex.R. Evid. 404(b). Thus, identity, intent, and the rebuttal of defenses are valid purposes for admitting evidence pursuant to Rule 404(b). Johnson v. State,
If the trial court determines the offered evidence has relevance apart from or beyond character conformity, it may admit the evidence and instruct the jury the evidence is limited to the specific purpose the proponent advocated. Montgomery v. State,
B. Intent
For the extraneous act to be admitted, the State must show it is relevant to a factor of consequence contested in the case. Rankin v. State,
An extraneous act is relevant if it serves to make an elemental fact more or less probable. Montgomery,
C. Remoteness
Appellant further contends the extraneous offenses were not admissible because they were committed more than ten years after the offense for which he was indicted. Rule 404, however, contains no time limitation. Templin v. State,
A line of cases decided before September 1, 1986, the date the Texas Rules of Evidence were first enacted, held that extraneous offenses committed more than a few years before the charged offense were too remote to be admissible. See Bachhofer v. State,
Those cases are distinguishable on their facts. In Baehhofer, the alleged extraneous offense took place in another state, and there was no final conviction for the extraneous offense.
In this case, two extraneous offenses were admitted to show appellant intended to commit a robbery when he murdered the store clerk. The fact that those offenses were committed ten years after the murder does not affect their admissibility on the issue of intent. The extraneous acts were similar to the charged offense and were probative evidence that appellant intended to rob the convenience store.
Although admissible under Rule 404(b), the same evidence may be inadmissible under Rule 403 if the probative value of such evidence is substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice. When a further objection is made to extraneous offense evidence under Rule 403, the trial court must determine whether the danger of undue prejudice outweighs the probative value of the evidence. The relevant criteria in making such a determination include the following factors:
(1) how compellingly the extraneous offense evidence serves to make a fact of consequence more or less probable, a factor which is related to the strength of the evidence presented by the proponent to show the defendant in fact committed the extraneous offense;
(2) the potential the other offense evidence has to impress the jury “in some irrational but nevertheless indelible way;”
(3) the time the proponent will need to develop the evidence, during which the jury will be distracted from the consideration of the indicted offense;
(4) the force of the proponent’s need for this evidence to prove a fact of consequence, i.e., does the proponent have other probative evidence available to him to help establish this fact, and is this fact related to an issue in dispute.
Mozon v. State,
Keeping the above standards in mind, we examine whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the extraneous offense evidence in this case. First, the extraneous offenses made intent to commit robbery or attempted robbery in 1982 more probable and rebutted appellant’s theory that the money missing from the register was either in the clerk’s pocket or a result of miscalculation. Second, although extraneous offenses always possess the potential to influence the jury, any impermissible inference of character conformity can be minimized through a limiting instruction. Lane v. State,
E. Jury Argument Regarding Extraneous Offenses
You also have the fact that you have heard other offenses. There is a special instruction in the charge as to how you are to consider that. You can take that into consideration for motive, intent, and it can go towards whether you believe that we proved beyond a reasonable doubt a robbery was committed in this particular offense and I submit to you that it was.
The trial court overruled appellant’s objection to this argument, and referred the jury to the charge.
Appellant’s issue four is predicated on a successful resolution of his first issue. Appellant argues that because the evidence of extraneous offenses was inadmissible, the State could not argue those offenses in closing argument. To be permissible, the State’s jury argument must fall within one of the following four general areas: (1) summation of the evidence; (2) reasonable deduction from the evidence; (3) answer to argument of opposing counsel; or (4) plea for law enforcement. Felder v. State,
In the present case, the State’s jury argument could reasonably be deemed as summation of the evidence or a reasonable deduction from the evidence. The prosecutor properly informed the jury it could consider the extraneous offenses for limited purposes. Furthermore, the instruction by the trial court to follow the charge would cure any error. Cf. Clarke v. State,
II. Cross-examination of State’s Witnesses
In issue two, appellant argues the trial court erred in limiting the cross-examination of State’s witnesses John Martin Smith and Patrick Brooks. Smith and Brooks were the customers who discovered the body of the store clerk. Appellant argues his main defense was that he was not guilty of capital murder because there was no evidence that any murder occurred during the commission of an aggravated robbery or attempted aggravated robbery. Appellant contends the State had very little evidence, if any, to link appellant to a robbery, and the State wanted the jury to believe that appellant either stole money from the register or attempted to steal money from the register. One of the ways the State tried to accomplish this was to have the jury believe appellant at least attempted to open the register by hitting keys on the register that set off the alarm.
Through cross-examination, appellant sought to show the register alarm began sounding after John Smith went into the back room to look at the victim, indicating that it was at that time an attempt to open the register occurred. To show that Brooks may have triggered the register alarm, appellant sought to cross-examine both John Smith and Patrick Brooks regarding a statement Brooks made when he entered the store. Brooks said, “Hey Wong Tong” “If you don’t get out here, I’m gonna rob ya.” The State objected, and the trial court sustained the objection finding the prejudicial effect outweighed the probative value of the statement.
III. Third Party Confession
Appellant next argues the trial court erred when it excluded the third party confession of James Edward Lyles II. Appellant argues the statement by Lyles that another person, Bobby Welch, admitted he committed this murder was admissible under the hearsay exception for statements against penal interest. See Tex.R. Evid. 803(24). The trial court ruled there was not enough corroborating evidence to allow Lyles’s statement to be admitted.
Counsel for appellant stated outside the presence of the jury that Lyles’s testimony would be as follows:
[Defense counsel:] If I were allowed to call James Edward Lyles, II, to the witness stand in the trial of this case, he would under oath testify that he was in Pasadena, Texas ... in July of 1982.
In July of 1982, he was in the presence of an individual that he called “Spider” and he was in the presence of an individual by the name of Bobby Welch and that three of them went into a Uto-teM store and that inside this UtoteM store, the manager of the UtoteM store was an Oriental, didn’t have any thumbs, and he was trying to get the change made for this Bobby Welch guy and he was moving slow. Bobby Welch didn’t like it and had some words with that individual who had words back with him. At that point in time, Bobby Welch pulled a knife out and told that individual that he was going to gut him just like he did the clerk over on .... — on Rich-ey, that in conversations with those individuals later, he determined what he was talking about was this capital murder that we’re in trial on today that occurred on Richey Road on March 12, slash, 13,1982.
In response, the State argued that if Lyles testified, he would be impeached with a statement Lyles made in 1984. In the 1984 statement, Lyles stated he was arrested and in the custody of the Pasadena Police Department when he told an officer that he wanted to talk to a detective about a murder. Lyles told the detective that he knew a man by the name of Bobby Welch who made a statement about killing a clerk in Pasadena.
Lyles said he and Welch went into a convenience store where an Asian clerk was working. The clerk and Welch argued about something, and after they left the store, they both made disparaging remarks about the clerk and Asians. At that
The trial court held there was not enough corroborating evidence to allow Lyles to testify about Welch’s statement. We review the trial court’s decision to exclude this hearsay evidence of a statement against penal interest under an abuse of discretion standard. Cunningham v. State,
A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. Tex.R. Evid. 803(24). Factors relevant to this inquiry include: (1) whether the guilt of the declarant is inconsistent with the guilt of the defendant; (2) whether the declarant was so situated that he might have committed the crime; (3) the timing of the declaration; (4) the spontaneity of the declaration; (5) the relationship between the declarant and the party to whom the statement was made; and (6) the existence of independent corroborative facts. Woods v. State,
In the present case, the guilt of the declarant is inconsistent with the guilt of appellant. There is no evidence in the record indicating the declarant’s location or situation at the time of the murder. The declaration was made several months after appellant was arrested for the murder. The statement was made by the de-clarant to either the clerk of the store in the presence of his acquaintances or to some of his acquaintances in their car after he became angry at a convenience store clerk for taking a long time to make change following a purchase. This inconsistency is the result of the declarant making two different statements. The statement did not indicate that the declarant had intimate familiarity with the crime. It merely revealed general facts that could have been in the news reports of the crime or arrest. Furthermore, following the statement, Welch was investigated and his DNA did not match the DNA at the crime scene.
Accordingly, the six factors and physical evidence establish that the statement was unreliable. Because there were insufficient corroborating circumstances to indicate the trustworthiness of Welch’s statements, we conclude appellant failed to show the trial court abused its discretion. Appellant’s third issue is overruled.
IV. Legal and Factual Sufficiency of the Evidence
In issues five and six, appellant argues the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to sustain his conviction for capital murder. Appellant contends the evidence is legally insufficient because the State failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that appellant committed murder while in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of aggravated robbery. Appellant also contends the evidence is factually insufficient because no rational jury could have found appellant committed murder while in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of aggravated robbery.
When conducting a legal sufficiency review, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and then determine whether a rational tri
A person commits the offense of capital murder if he commits murder as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) of the Texas Penal Code, and he intentionally commits the murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation, or terroristic threat. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(2) (Vernon Supp.2005). Appellant was charged with committing murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery. The evidence presented in this case is both legally and factually sufficient to support appellant’s conviction of capital murder. John Smith testified that he did not know when the register alarm was first triggered, but he noticed it when he was searching near the register for a flashlight to check the victim’s vital signs. Patrick Brooks did not recall hearing the register alarm. The register’s alarm was sounding when the convenience store’s district manager entered the store. He turned the alarm off at the request of the police. No bills were found in the register following the murder. The district manager testified that he calculated the amount of money missing at the time of the offense, but could not recall at the time of trial. On cross-examination, the manager testified that the money was not there and agreed he could not tell whether it was the result of mismanagement or someone taking the money. Several of the police officers and crime scene investigators heard the register alarm. The fingerprints on the register, however, did not match appellant’s prints. DNA comparisons showed appellant’s blood was found on or near the victim’s body.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we hold the evidence was legally sufficient for a rational jury to find the essential elements of capital murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Viewing the evidence in a neutral light, we observe that the jury decided in this case to believe the testimony elicited by the State regarding the robbery and to disbelieve appellant’s cross-examination regarding the clerk taking the money or miscalculation of the money in the register. Because the jury is the sole judge of the weight and credibility of the witness testimony, and because the proof of guilt was not so obviously weak as to undermine confidence in the jury’s determination of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or so greatly outweighed by contrary proof as to indicate that the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard could not have been met, we hold the evidence was factually
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
FROST, J., concurring.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
The court correctly determines that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of the two 1992 aggravated-robbery offenses, but the majority does not inquire as to whether appellant put his intent in issue and employs a similarity analysis more appropriate to the identity issue. Nonetheless, the court properly affirms the trial court’s judgment.
Although relevant, “evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith.” Tex.R. Evid. 404(b). However, extraneous offenses may be admissible to show “motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.” Id.; Montgomery v. State,
The State offered the 1992 aggravated robbery offenses as admissible to prove motive, identity, intent, and “lack of mistake on part of the officers,” and to rebut the defensive theory that the charged capital murder was a party offense. Appellant objected to the admission of this extraneous-offense evidence under Texas Rules of Evidence 403 and 404. The trial court initially found the 1992 aggravated robberies were relevant for some of the purposes listed in the second sentence of Rule 404(b), i.e. that they tended to show motive, intent, opportunity, and lack of mistake, and that the probative value of this extraneous-offense evidence outweighed its prejudicial effect. After making these rul-' ings, the trial court granted appellant a running objection to the evidence on extraneous offenses and then instructed the jury that they could consider the evidence for virtually all of the purposes mentioned in Rule 404(b):
The Court: All right. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to give you an instruction now regarding evidence that you will soon hear. You are instructed if there is any evidence before you in this case regarding the defendant’s committing an alleged offense or offenses other than the offense charged against him in the indictment in this case, you cannot consider such evidence for any purpose unless you find and believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant*62 committed such other offense or offenses, if any, and even then you may only consider the same in determining the motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident of the defendant, if any, in connection with the offense, if any, alleged against him in the indictment and for no other purpose.
A juror: Would you rephrase that in a short sentence?
The Court: You will have that in the charge. Basically, if you hear evidence of another crime or wrong that is alleged to have been committed by the defendant, you may not consider that for any purpose other than determining motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident of the defendant, if any, in connection with this offense. And you may only consider it if you believe the other crime or wrong beyond a reasonable doubt. You will [sic] given this in the charge that you have to take back with you.2
When, as in this case, a limiting instruction is requested,
The only purpose the majority opinion addresses is intent; however, the majority’s analysis, which focuses on the mode of committing the offenses and the circumstances surrounding the charged offense, pertains more to identity.
Evidence of an extraneous offense may be admissible to show identity when identity is an issue in the case. Lane v. State,
In this case, the majority concludes that the indicted and extraneous offenses were alike in several ways and notes the following similarities:
• all three offenses were committed with a blunt instrument or a knife;
• all three offenses were committed at convenience stores;
• all three offenses were committed in Harris County;
• all three offenses were committed by an individual acting alone;
• in two of the incidents, bills but not coins were taken;
• in all three offenses, nothing was stolen from the store clerk; and
• in all three offenses the perpetrator drove away very quickly.
Though it is true that comparisons can be drawn and similarities identified, the similarities noted by the majority are not the type of similarities Texas jurisprudence recognizes as a “defendant’s handiwork” because they are not at all distinctive. All of the conduct in question occurred at Houston-area convenience stores, but there is nothing in this case that would serve as the “signature” of the perpetrator and thereby affirmatively link the charged offense (the 1982 capital murder) to the extraneous offenses (the 1992 aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery) for identity purposes. The 1992 extraneous offenses are simply gar
The probity of evidence of other crimes, when introduced for purposes of identity, depends upon both the uniqueness of the modus operandi and the degree of similarity between the charged offense and the extraneous offenses. Here, the modus op-erandi was not unique or distinctive. The similarities cited by the majority are common components of armed robberies — an individual acting alone, with a knife or blunt object, who leaves very quickly after taking or attempting to take bills from a cash register. Whether considered alone or in combination, these characteristics lack the distinction necessary to trigger the identity exception in Rule 404(b).
Moreover, there is a dramatic and pronounced dissimilarity between the charged offense (1982 capital murder) and the extraneous offenses (1992 aggravated robberies) in that the former was a horribly violent, bloody crime that ended in the brutal stabbing and stomping death of the store clerk, while the latter offenses — committed nearly a decade later — involved only robbery or attempted robbery, no injuries in either, and property loss in only one. The perpetrator in the charged offense was an extremely violent person as was shown by the multiple knife wounds and evidence that the perpetrator stomped on the victim’s chest during the attack, rupturing the victim’s heart. The perpetrators in the two extraneous offenses were scared off by threats from one clerk and a call to the police from the other, without causing any injury in either case. This significant dissimilarity alone undermines the force of any inference of identity 'that might have flowed from the common, non-distinctive characteristics of the three offenses.
The times of day of all three offenses are also dissimilar. Neither the same type
of weapon nor the same get-away vehicle was used in all three offenses. There is also the significant distinctive difference in the lapse of time between the two offenses in December 1992 and the March 1982 offense charged in the indictment. The extraneous offenses and the charged offense were separated by almost ten years. See Johnson,
In this case, the similarities are not substantial enough to warrant the admission of the extraneous offenses on this issue of identity. Rather, the similarities are more in the nature of the similarities common to the type of crime itself. Compare Johnston v. State,
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12/15/92 Knife UniGrocery- Morning East Houston Perpetrator came in the store and asked for Marlboro cigarettes, left and returned a short time later and asked, “Do you have a restroom?” When clerk indicated there was no public restroom, perpetrator walked out the door and returned with a knife. No injury; perpe- Nothing trator ran out the stolen, door when complainant said, “Where is my gun?” ‘Where is my ... stick?”
12/16/92 Crowbar Stop ‘n Go - Southeast Houston Night Perpetrator came in the store and asked to use the restroom and then asked if “that older man” [an Asian male] was working. When clerk indicated the man was not working, perpetrator left and returned later. On the second visit, he asked about cigarettes. Perpetrator raised crowbar in a threatening manner. No injury; when clerk called police, perpetrator opened cash register, grabbed bills and left store. Cash (bills), but not coins.
03/12/82 Knife U-Tote-M - Pasadena Late Night Not known. Violent, bloody murder; complainant suffered Y stab wounds to the abdomen, 2 stab wounds to the chest, and traumatic rupture of the heart, as well as multiple cutting wounds of the neck and upper extremities. Disputed. No bills remained in the cash register, only coins.
Because the offenses are not sufficiently similar to constitute “signature” offenses, the trial court erred to the extent it admitted the offenses for purposes of establishing identity.
The similarity requirement necessary for admissibility based on identity, however, is diminished when the stated basis for admissibility is intent. See Plante v. State,
Appellant sums up his argument that the trial court erred in allowing this prejudicial evidence in this way:
“The only evidence of a robbery would be the natural presumption that it must have been for the purpose of a robbery. That might be a natural presumption, but it is not a legal presumption. The State realized this lack of evidence and that is why they wished to offer the extraneous offenses ... Evidence of the extraneous robberies of 1992, was therefore necessary for the jury to convict of capital murder in this case.”
Appellant argues that by allowing the jury to infer the intent to rob in the capital murder case before them, from the evidence that he had an intent to rob in the 1992 offenses is in essence allowing the jury “to determine that he has an intent to rob generally ... [t]hat his character is one for which they could infer that he generally has an intent to rob, and therefore the instant case must be one of ‘character conformity for that particular character trait.”
Evidence of a person’s bad character is generally not admissible for the purpose of showing that he acted in conformity therewith. Robbins v. State,
Under the indictment, to convict appellant of capital murder, the State had to prove that appellant intentionally murdered the complainant in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(2) (Vernon Supp.2005). A person attempts to commit robbery if, with specific intent to commit robbery, he does an act amounting to more than mere preparation that tends but fails to effect the commission of the offense intended. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 15.01(a) (Vernon 2003). To determine that appellant intended to commit robbery, the jury had to find that appellant had an intent to unlawfully appropriate property with the intent to deprive the owner of the property as well as an intent to obtain or maintain control of the property. See Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 29.02 (Vernon 2003), § 31.03(a) (Vernon Supp.2005).
Intent can be inferred from acts, words, and conduct of the accused. Hernandez v. State,
The majority opinion indicates that, because the indictment required the State
Notes
. See Taylor v. State,
. Emphasis added.
. The majority opinion states:
At defense counsel's request, the trial court instructed the jury they could only consider evidence of the extraneous offenses "in determining the motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident of the defendant, if any, in connection with the offense, if any, alleged against him in the indictment and for no other purpose.”
Though defense counsel requested an instruction, he did not request this one; rather, defense counsel specifically asked the trial court to limit the instruction to "whatever the limited reason” for admitting the extraneous-offense evidence was. The trial court told the jury they could consider the 1992 aggravated robberies in determining motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake of accident of appellant.
. Appellant challenges the trial court's decision to allow the jury to consider the extraneous-offense evidence and argues that the jury should not have been allowed to consider it for any of the purposes listed in Rule 404(b); however, appellant does not argue the trial court’s overly broad instruction resulted in any harm beyond the jury’s consideration of the evidence for purposes of intent. In criminal cases, however, this court has discretion to review error preserved in the trial court but not argued on appeal. See Rezac v. State,
. See also Johnson,
. Motive is not an essential element of a criminal case and need not be proved to sustain a conviction for commission of the offense. Bush v. State,
Evidence of an extraneous offense to rebut a defense of “lack of opportunity” or “impossibility" is admissible under Rule 404(b). See, e.g„ Wheeler v. State,
A claim that the alleged act was done by accident or mistake is a defensive issue that must be raised. Using accident or mistake as the basis for the introduction of extraneous offenses may be pointless if the defendant has not claimed accident or mistake. Prior v. State,
Though extraneous offenses may be admissible under Rule 404(b) to prove plan, preparation, or knowledge, these issues were not raised in this case. Therefore, they could not serve as a proper purpose for admitting the extraneous offenses. See Daggett v. State,
This bad-character-conformity purpose, whether express or not, is precisely what is barred by Rule 404(b). Id. Thus, if the proponent is unable to articulate exactly how an extraneous act tends to prove a step toward an ultimate goal or overarching plan, the evidence is not admissible to prove part of a "plan." Id. Plan or preparation was not raised and could not have served as a legitimate purpose for admitting the extraneous offenses in this case.
