Townsend v. State

In Townsend v. State, 776 S.W.2d 316, 317 (Tex. App. - Houston 1st Dist. 1989, pet. ref'd), the court of appeals faced an analogous situation. There, the defendant was charged with sexually abusing two young girls. He testified and denied that he had any sexual contact with either child. He also called a psychiatrist to testify that "based on his interview with and testing of appellant, it was his expert medical opinion that appellant's psychological profile was not typical of individuals who commit sexual crimes." Id. This expert testimony, which was a species of subtle character evidence, opened the door to the State calling two witnesses in rebuttal who testified that he had abused them several years earlier. The court of appeals held that evidence of "the two extraneous offenses was admissible to controvert the false impression left by appellant that he was not the type of person who would commit a sexual offense against a child, and that he was simply the innocent victim of the children's anger and their overactive imagination." Id. at 318.