Opening the Door to Extraneous Bad Acts in Opening Statement Fort Worth Criminal Defense Attorney’s Cautionary Post As a Fort Worth criminal defense attorney, I am constantly up against some of the best prosecutors in Texas. This means my colleagues and I must tread carefully in cases involving “extraneous offense evidence.” As a general rule, crimes or past bad acts of the accused cannot be offered by the prosecution besides the crime a person is on trial for. Over the years, this protection has been eroded by appellate courts and the Texas Legislature’s changes to procedural laws. Aside from the many exceptions that practically swallow the rule, a criminal defense attorney can create a situation that this, otherwise inadmissible, evidence