Michael v. State
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
235 S.W.3d 723 (2007)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Eric Michael (defendant) was charged with sexual abuse of H.F., a minor. H.F. testified at trial. On cross-examination, Michael pointed out several inconsistencies between H.F.’s trial testimony and her statements in an interview recorded prior to trial. On rebuttal, the prosecution (plaintiff) called Stacy Turner, H.F.’s former teacher and babysitter, as a witness. Turner sought to testify about her opinion of H.F.’s character for truthfulness. Michael objected, arguing that Turner’s rehabilitation testimony was improper because H.F.’s credibility had not been attacked. The trial court overruled the objection, ruling that the impeachment with prior inconsistent statements attacked H.F.’s character for truthfulness, allowing rehabilitation testimony. Michael was convicted, and the court of appeals affirmed. Michael appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Womack, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
