Opinion ID: 2644638
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Right to Present a Complete Defense

Text: Ellis argues that the district court’s exclusion of Clifford Ubani’s former testimony violated her constitutional right to present a complete defense. This court reviews Sixth Amendment claims de novo, and evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. United States v. Templeton, 624 F.3d 215, 223 (5th Cir. 2010). The Sixth Amendment right to present a complete defense may be violated by “evidence rules that infringe upon a weighty interest of the accused and are arbitrary or disproportionate to the purposes they are designed to serve.” Holmes v. South Carolina, 547 U.S. 319, 324 (2006) (quotation marks omitted). Even so, “well-established rules of evidence permit trial judges to exclude evidence if its probative value is outweighed by certain other factors such as unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or potential to mislead the jury.” Id. at 326. Because one of the reasons the district court excluded the former testimony was that its probative value was substantially outweighed by the potential to mislead, we reject the contention that any constitutional rights were violated. See United States v. Eff, 524 F.3d 712, 720 (5th Cir. 2008).