## Facts

- William Jerome Terry III was charged with aggravated rape and attempted second-degree murder based on an August 1992 altercation with his ex-girlfriend.
- The ex-girlfriend testified that she and Terry began dating in January 1992 and broke up in August 1992 because Terry abused her.
- On cross-examination, the ex-girlfriend admitted that during earlier physical altercations in 1992 she had cut Terry.
- Defense counsel attempted to question the ex-girlfriend about whether she had attacked other family members, but the trial court disallowed that inquiry.
- The State presented Mathis Holiday, a local resident who knew the ex-girlfriend. The defense sought to impeach the ex-girlfriend by questioning Holiday about her reputation for truthfulness in the community.
- Holiday’s proposed reputation testimony was based on speaking with only three or four unidentified people who said the ex-girlfriend was a liar, without details about those conversations; the trial court excluded the testimony for insufficient foundation.
- Terry testified in his own defense that his ex-girlfriend was violent and had attacked him, and that he acted in self-defense during the charged incident.
- Terry did not testify on direct examination that he knew of specific violent acts by the ex-girlfriend against persons other than Terry; as a result, the trial court refused to allow Terry or other defense witnesses to testify about knowledge of her alleged violence toward others.
- The jury acquitted Terry of aggravated rape and convicted him of attempted second-degree murder.
- The trial court sentenced Terry to 50 years at hard labor, and Terry appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court committed reversible error by restricting or excluding self-defense evidence concerning the victim’s alleged violent acts toward others, and by excluding testimony about the victim’s reputation for untruthfulness.
2. Whether the sentence must be vacated because the record did not show that the trial court considered the Louisiana Felony Sentencing Guidelines and properly addressed credit for time served.

## Decision

- The court affirmed Terry’s conviction for attempted second-degree murder.
- The court concluded that the trial court’s view of admissible victim-violence evidence in a self-defense case was too narrow, but held that Terry was not entitled to reversal because the defense failed to make an adequate proffer of the excluded evidence, preventing meaningful appellate review.
- The court upheld exclusion of Holiday’s proposed reputation-for-untruthfulness testimony because Holiday did not lay a sufficient foundation to show the victim’s general reputation in the community.
- The court vacated Terry’s 50-year sentence and remanded for resentencing because the record did not reflect consideration of the Felony Sentencing Guidelines, and it instructed the trial court to address credit for time served.

## Legal Principles

- When self-defense is at issue, evidence of a victim’s violent character and, in limited circumstances, specific prior violent acts may be admissible to support the defendant’s claim and to bear on the reasonableness of the defendant’s fear when the defendant knew of those acts.
- If a trial court excludes evidence, the proponent must make an offer of proof adequate to show what the evidence would have been and why it matters; without a sufficient proffer, an appellate court may be unable to evaluate admissibility or prejudice.
- Reputation impeachment must reflect a witness’s general reputation in a community; a foundation based on a few unidentified comments, without context, may be insufficient.
- When felony sentencing guidelines apply, the sentencing record must show the court considered them; if the record is silent, the sentence may be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing, including proper treatment of credit for time served.

## Conclusion

The Louisiana First Circuit affirmed Terry’s attempted second-degree murder conviction because the defense did not preserve the excluded victim-violence evidence with a sufficient proffer and because the proposed reputation impeachment lacked an adequate foundation, but it vacated the 50-year sentence and remanded for resentencing since the record did not show consideration of the Felony Sentencing Guidelines and required attention to credit for time served.


State v. Terry, 654 So. 2d 455 (1995)