Ibarra

Appellant in this case was the subject of a videotape recorded by a reality television show. The videotape was made as police successfully rescued appellant’s estranged girlfriend from him during the course of appellant’s attempt to strangle her at her place of employment. On appeal appellant argues his conviction of attempted first degree murder must be reversed because the trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to show the jury three minutes and fourteen seconds of the videotape in support of the prosecution’s contention that the girlfriend was severely injured by appellant and in fact the subject of an attempted murder. In permitting the prosecution to use the videotape, the trial court acted well within its discretion. The videotape did not in any manner mischaracterize or distort the events it recorded and was probative evidence with respect to appellant’s intent in holding his girlfriend hostage for more than 30 minutes with a belt tightly wrapped around her neck. The girlfriend and the officers testified that as police broke into the room where, appellant had been holding the girlfriend, appellant intentionally pulled hard on the belt, and the girlfriend,…