California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Provencio, F069577 (Cal. App. 2016):
Where section 352 is concerned, "[t]he word 'prejudicial' is not synonymous with 'damaging.' [Citation.] Rather, evidence is unduly prejudicial under section 352 only if it ' " 'uniquely tends to evoke an emotional bias against the defendant as an individual and . . . has very little effect on the issues' " ' [citation], or if it invites the jury to prejudge ' " 'a person or cause on the basis of extraneous factors.' " ' [Citation.] 'Painting a person faithfully is not, of itself, unfair.' [Citation.]" (People v. Johnson, supra, 185 Cal.App.4th at p. 534.)
In the present case, "[t]he evidence was extremely probative, showing defendant's propensity for violence against [Stephanie]. The prior incident[] of domestic violence [was] not the sort to evoke an emotional bias against defendant. [Citation.]" (People v. Poplar, supra, 70 Cal.App.4th at p. 1139.) The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence of the 2011 incident.
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