Tate v. State

OPINION

join.

The issue presented is whether Texas Rule of Criminal Evidence 404(b)1 allows a defendant to present evidence of a victim’s threat against him in order to show that the victim was the aggressor and the defendant acted in self-defense.

*190 The Relevant Facts

On September 11, 1996, a Bell County grand jury indicted appellant, Christopher Michael Tate, for murder under Texas Penal Code § 19.02(b)(2). At appellant’s trial, the evidence established that, on August 18, 1996, appellant stabbed his girlfriend’s father, Michael Neal Rackley, during an altercation at appellant’s home. Rackley…