In the Case of Wise V

Short Answer

In the case of Wise v. State, the adult defendant had been convicted in Texas of various crimes involving his relationship with a sixteen-year-old girl. The defendant and the underage teenager had a sexual relationship, and she sent him naked pictures of her and allowed other pictures to be taken. Police discovered child pornography on the defendant's home computer as well as some pictures that the teenager had sent to defendant Wise. The trial court permitted the visual evidence to be admitted against the defendant over his argument that the pictures were not provably relevant to his case because there was no evidence that he had anything to do with their creation, downloading, storage, or access. Defendant had purchased the computer at a flea market with software and data pre-existing on the hard drive. Why did the Texas reviewing court reverse some of the possession of child pornography convictions on the basis of improperly admitted evidence?