California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. McPeters, B238758 (Cal. App. 2013):
The trial court's determination whether evidence has sufficient relevance to be admitted is reviewed for abuse of discretion. (People v. Sanders (1995) 11 Cal.4th 475, 554-555.) "As a general matter, the '[a]pplication of the ordinary rules of evidence . . . does not impermissibly infringe on a defendant's [due process] right to present a defense.' [Citation.] Although completely excluding evidence of an accused's defense theoretically could rise to [that] level, excluding defense evidence on a minor or subsidiary point does not . . . . Accordingly, absent such a complete exclusion, the proper
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standard of review for erroneous exclusion of defense evidence is whether it is reasonably probable the jury would have reached a more favorable verdict had the evidence been admitted. (People v. Fudge (1995) 7 Cal.4th 1075, 1102-1104.)
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