## Facts

- Judy Terry was prosecuted in Texas for the homicide of her infant son, about one month old.
- The child’s body showed multiple injuries and bruises; an autopsy was performed.
- At trial, the State offered eight color slides: three pre-autopsy photographs of the nude body showing many bruises, one X-ray showing a broken arm bone, and four post-autopsy photographs showing incisions and exposed internal structures.
- Terry objected that the slides—especially the post-autopsy images—were gruesome, inflammatory, and unfairly prejudicial.
- The trial court admitted all eight slides; the jury convicted Terry of murder without malice, and the court assessed five years’ imprisonment.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting post-autopsy color slides whose inflammatory impact substantially outweighed their probative value.

## Decision

- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and remanded.
- The court held the trial court did not err in admitting the three pre-autopsy photographs and the X-ray because they illustrated the location, nature, and extent of the child’s injuries.
- The court held the trial court did abuse its discretion by admitting the four post-autopsy slides because they primarily displayed surgical alterations from the autopsy and added little to other evidence of the injuries.
- Because the post-autopsy slides carried a high risk of inflaming the jury while offering minimal additional evidentiary value, their admission was reversible error.

## Legal Principles

- Photographs may be admitted as “pictorial communications” if verified as accurate representations and if material and relevant to matters a witness could describe.
- Photographs are generally subject to the same admissibility rules as other tangible objects connected to the offense.
- Admission of photographs is largely committed to the trial court’s discretion, reviewable for abuse of discretion.
- Even relevant photographs should be excluded when their probative value is very slight and their inflammatory aspects are great, particularly where the images depict autopsy-created conditions rather than injuries caused by the offense.

## Conclusion

The court required exclusion of highly graphic post-autopsy photographs when they mainly showed surgical changes and contributed little beyond other testimony and pre-autopsy images, concluding that admitting such evidence was an abuse of discretion warranting reversal and remand.


Terry v. State, 491 S.W.2d 161 (Tex. Crim. App. 1973)