Does a defendant have an unfettered right to introduce evidence that is incompetent, privileged or otherwise inadmissible under the rules of evidence?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Rapp, B209688 (Cal. App. 12/22/2009), B209688 (Cal. App. 2009):

A defendant does not have an unfettered right to introduce evidence that is incompetent, privileged, or otherwise inadmissible under the rules of evidence. (Montana v. Egelhoff (1996) 518 U.S. 37, 42 [116 S.Ct. 2013].) In particular, the exclusion of relevant evidence due to a defendant's failure to comply with procedural requirements does not violate the Constitution. (Ibid.) Here, the trial court did not prevent Perysian from presenting a defense, but simply rebuffed his attempt to present in an untimely fashion and without a showing of due diligence some additional, cumulative evidence. The court's refusal was neither a violation of Perysian's constitutional rights nor of state law.

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