Opinion ID: 1160484
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Relevancy of the Evidence

Text: The list of permissible purposes in Rule 404(b) is not intended to be exhaustive for the range of relevancy outside the ban is almost infinite. E.W. Cleary, McCormick on Evidence § 190, at 448 (Cleary ed.1972). In United States v. Miller, 895 F.2d 1431 (D.C.Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 825, 111 S.Ct. 79, 112 L.Ed.2d 52 (1990), the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia explained: [Rule 404(b)] was intended not to define the set of permissible purposes for which bad-acts evidence may be admitted but rather to define the one impermissible purpose for such evidence. `Only one series of evidential hypotheses is forbidden in criminal cases by Rule 404: a [person] who commits a crime probably has a defect of character; a [person] with a defect of character is more likely than [people] generally to have committed the act in question.' 2 J. Weinstein & M. Berger ¶ 404(8) at 404-52. In other words, under Rule 404(b), any purpose for which bad-acts evidence is introduced is a proper purpose so long as the evidence is not offered solely to prove character. The Government's right to introduce bad-acts evidence for purposes other than showing a defendant's criminal propensity is by no means unlimited. But the limits derive from the `general strictures limiting admissibility such as Rules 402 and 403,' not from Rule 404(b). Huddleston [v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 688], 108 S.Ct. [1496] at 1500[, 99 L.Ed.2d 771 (1988)]. Id. at 1436. In this case, the prosecution contends that: The testimony [regarding the two prior incidents] was relevant to establish that [Diana], as an individual in an abusive relationship, could be expected to protect [Clark] by taking blame for the injuries she suffered as a result of the attack at issue in the instant matter. The testimony regarding the incident on August 8th, also demonstrated [Diana's] tendency to take the blame to protect [Clark]. That [Diana] would take the blame to protect [Clark] appears to be a characteristic common to individuals in abusive domestic relationships. The inquiry into the circumstances of the two prior incidents was only part of the testimony the prosecutor sought to elicit to establish that as a victim of domestic violence, [Diana] would recant her earlier statement that [Clark] had stabbed her and blame herself to protect him. The prior incidents of domestic violence between Diana and Clark showed the jury the context of Diana's relationship with Clark. The context of Diana's relationship with Clark was relevant because the relationship was offered as the basis for Diana's recantation at trial. In State v. Thompson, 520 N.W.2d 468 (Minn.Ct.App.1994), defendant was charged with sexual assault for having inserted a metal hanger into his girlfriend's rectum and vagina. Within two days following the incident, the victim told her roommate, her sister, at least two police officers, and a domestic abuse counselor that the defendant had sexually assaulted her. Id. at 470. However, a few days after the incident, the victim told her sister that she had lied about the assault, that she had used the hanger on herself, and that she did not want [defendant] to go to prison because of her false allegations. Id. The prosecution refused to drop the charges, basing its case on [the victim's] original statements and evidence that a battered woman often recants truthful accusations she has previously lodged against her abuser. Id. In addition, at trial, a police officer was allowed to testify that ... [defendant] had threatened [the victim] and her mother. Id. Defendant was convicted following a jury trial. On appeal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals approved of the trial court's admission of evidence that defendant had previously threatened the victim and her mother. The court explained: Evidence of other acts or wrongs is not admissible to prove a person's character. Minn.R.Evid. 404(b). It is admissible, though, if relevant, to show the relationship between the defendant and the victim. State v. Thieman, 439 N.W.2d 1, 6 (Minn. 1989) (prior threat admissible to show strained relationship); ... In this case, the evidence was introduced to show Thompson's relationships with [the victim] and her mother, and it was relevant because the state claimed those relationships were the basis for [the victim's] retraction of her allegations. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the evidence. Id. at 471 (emphases added). In Smith v. State, 669 A.2d 1 (Del.1995), the prosecution charged defendant with forcing his fiance to have intercourse. Following the incident, the victim told the police officers who responded to her 911 call and the doctor who treated her at the hospital that defendant had forced her to have intercourse. At trial, however, the victim admitted arguing and fighting with defendant on the night in question, but denied having been raped. [Victim] explained that, when she spoke to the police on [the date of the incident,] she was angry, tired and upset. [Victim] testified that she exaggerated a lot about what had happened because she wanted the police to remove [defendant] from the apartment. Id. at 3. To refute the victim's testimony, the prosecution sought the admission in evidence of several prior violent episodes between the defendant and the victim. The [prosecution] argued that the repeated acts of violence established a course of conduct that helped prove [the victim's] lack of consent to sexual intercourse. In addition, the fact that [the victim] was enduring an abusive relationship helped explain why, as the [prosecution] correctly anticipated, she would recant her prior statements and testify that the sexual relations were consensual. The trial judge agreed and allowed the [prosecution] to ask [the victim] about five other incidents where [defendant's] conduct resulted in [the victim] calling the police, going to a hospital emergency room for treatment, or both. Id. at 5. On appeal, the Delaware Supreme Court found no abuse of discretion by the trial judge, noting that the evidence was material [and] introduced for a proper purpose[.] Id. In accordance with the foregoing authority, we hold that, where a victim recants allegations of abuse, evidence of prior incidents of violence between the victim and the defendant are relevant to show the trier of fact the context of the relationship between the victim and the defendant, where, as here, that relationship is offered as a possible explanation for the victim's recantation.