Francisco Sepulveda v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals affirmed Francisco Sepulveda’s convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault family violence by impeding breath or circulation. The court held that Sepulveda failed to preserve his Confrontation Clause complaint regarding the complainant’s pending criminal charges and failed to preserve his challenges to relationship and extraneous-act evidence or to a limiting instruction.

Holdings

1. A defendant does not preserve a Confrontation Clause complaint when he argues only that evidence is relevant to a witness's credibility and does not clearly invoke the Confrontation Clause or otherwise give the trial court an opportunity to rule on that constitutional basis.
2. A complaint concerning the admission of extraneous-offense or relationship evidence is not preserved when the appellant fails to identify the challenged testimony and fails to make the specific objections required under Rules 404(b) and 403.
3. The trial court did not reversibly err by failing to give a limiting instruction sua sponte when Sepulveda did not request one and did not establish egregious harm.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Sepulveda preserved a Confrontation Clause challenge to the exclusion of evidence concerning Castaneda's pending criminal charges and alleged violation of pretrial-diversion conditions.
2. Whether Sepulveda preserved a challenge to the admission of testimony concerning his jealousy, possessiveness, and romantic relationship with Castaneda under Texas Rules of Evidence 403 and 404(b).
3. Whether the trial court reversibly erred by failing to provide a limiting instruction concerning the challenged relationship or prior-act evidence.

Disposition

affirmed