Opinion ID: 557349
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony on the James Davies incident

Text: 56 The day before the Davis/Gardner incident, there was an altercation between John Davis and James Davies. Davies, allegedly drunk and annoyed at being caught behind Davis' wagon, attacked Davis' teenage son. In defending his son, Davis bloodied Davies' nose. Although Davis filed a police report reporting the incident, he did not press charges against Davies for initiating the attack, and the matter was dropped. Yet after the Davis/Gardner incident, the Sheriff's Department brought assault charges against Davis, who was acquitted in a jury trial. 57 Mason County sought to bring in evidence regarding this incident in order to show Davis' proclivity to violence. Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) says, however, that [e]vidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. See Coursen v. A.H. Robins Co., Inc., 764 F.2d at 1335. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to admit evidence of the Davies incident.