California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Anderson, B259312 (Cal. App. 2016):
person's character or a trait of his or her character (whether in the form of an opinion, evidence of reputation, or evidence of specific instances of his or her conduct) is inadmissible when offered to prove his or her conduct on a specified occasion." Evidence Code section 1108, subdivision (a) provides: "In a criminal action in which the defendant is accused of a sexual offense, evidence of the defendant's commission of another sexual offense or offenses is not made inadmissible by Section 1101, if the evidence is not inadmissible pursuant to Section 352." Evidence Code section 352 provides: "The court in its discretion may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury." The trial court's rulings under Evidence Code sections 352, 1101 and 1108 are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. (See People v. Foster (2010) 50 Cal.4th 1301, 1328; People v. Kipp (1998) 18 Cal.4th 349, 369.)
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