Delaney v. State

In Delaney v. State, No. 12-07-00035-CR, 2008 WL 2571715 (Tex. App.--Tyler June 30, 2008, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication), the defendant initially was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for aggravated robbery. During the punishment phase of the subsequent revocation proceeding, the evidence presented, although extensive, related solely to an extraneous offense, a murder allegedly committed by the defendant. However, the testimony from the witnesses was equivocal, and the trial court did not find that the extraneous offense was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a prerequisite to admission of the evidence. The Court held that without this finding, the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of the extraneous offense. The Court also held that admission of this evidence was reversible error, because under the specific facts of the case, we could not determine that consideration of that evidence had "but a slight effect" on the assessment of punishment. Id.