Opinion ID: 1658665
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Exclusion of Evidence of Drugs on Barrett and Reese

Text: In his fourth assignment of error, Brouillette asserts that the district court erred in refusing to admit evidence he offered to establish that marijuana was found in the pocket of Reese, the passenger, and that marijuana and amphetamine were found in the urine of Barrett, the driver. Citing to various cases not repeated here, Brouillette argues that the excluded evidence would show that Barrett was driving under the influence of drugs and that the excluded evidence was relevant to establish that Barrett was negligent and that such negligence contributed to the accident. The State objected to such evidence on the basis of relevance, and the district court sustained the State's objection. The district court did not abuse its discretion in so ruling. Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. State v. Davlin, 263 Neb. 283, 639 N.W.2d 631 (2002). If evidence fails to alter the probabilities of the existence or nonexistence of a fact in issue, the evidence is irrelevant. Id. The exercise of judicial discretion is implicit in determinations of relevancy, and a trial court's decision regarding it will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. Id. The uncontradicted evidence in the present case established that Brouillette was driving in the wrong direction and that proceeding in such a manner caused the accident. Given the evidence, it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to conclude that the proffered evidence that Reese had drugs on his person and that Barrett had drugs in his urine was not relevant. The proposed evidence does not negate evidence that Brouillette's actions caused the deaths of Barrett and Reese. The presence of drugs on Barrett and Reese could not be the sole proximate cause of the accident where the record establishes without dispute that Brouillette was driving in the wrong direction on the divided highway. See State v. Brown, 258 Neb. 330, 603 N.W.2d 419 (1999). We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding the evidence offered by Brouillette on the basis of relevance. We therefore reject Brouillette's fourth assignment of error.