Aron Hernandez v. State Texas

A jury convicted appellant of murder and assessed punishment at fifty (50) years confinement. The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction holding that reputation testimony from two witnesses, based solely on conversations with others within the community about appellants prior bad acts, violated the rule of Wagner v. State, 687 S.W.2d 303 (Tex.Cr.App. 1985) (opinion on rehearing). Hernandez v. State, 767 S.W.2d 902 (Tex.App. - Corpus Christi 1989) (opinion on original submission). They also decided, after the filing of a States petition for discretionary review, Tex.R.App.Pro. 101, that Tex.R.Crim.Evid. 405 did not make any changes in the predicate required by Wagner. Hernandez, 767 S.W.2d at 905 (opinion on petition for discretionary review). We granted the District Attorneys and the State Prosecuting Attorneys petitions for discretionary review to determine what, if any, effect Rule 405 has on the admissibility of such reputation evidence.