Opinion ID: 1420164
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Acts of Defendant

Text: {46} Prior to trial, the State moved for admission of certain evidence concerning Defendant's prior violent acts toward the victim. Defendant moved to exclude such evidence. The district court ruled that the evidence was admissible under Rules 11-403 and 11-404(B) NMRA 1998, for the purpose of proving Defendant's motive for the killing. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this evidence. {47} Under Rule 11-404(B), evidence of a defendant's prior acts is admissible to show proof of motive. See Woodward, 121 N.M. at 7-8, 908 P.2d at 237-38. At trial, the State presented the theory that Defendant had a motive for killing the victim because she rejected him and chose to marry Antillon, while Defendant presented the theory that Defendant had no motive for killing the victim because she loved him and was only seeing Antillon due to pressure from her family. Under these circumstances, evidence of the deterioration of Defendant's relationship with the victim, and the specific actions that gave her cause for rejecting him in favor of Antillon, directly addresses the motivational theories presented at trial. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting this evidence under Rule 11-404(B). See Woodward, 121 N.M. at 8, 908 P.2d at 238. {48} Under Rule 11-403, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial impact, the potential for confusion of the issues, or the danger of misleading the jury. [D]etermining whether the prejudicial impact of evidence outweighs its probative value is left to the discretion of the trial court. State v. Wilson, 117 N.M. 11, 17, 868 P.2d 656, 662 (Ct.App.1993). In determining whether the trial court has abused its discretion in applying Rule 11-403, the appellate court considers the probative value of the evidence, see State v. Schifani, 92 N.M. 127, 130, 584 P.2d 174, 177 (Ct.App.1978), but the fact that some jurors might find this evidence offensive or inflammatory does not necessarily require its exclusion, cf. State v. Everitt, 80 N.M. 41, 46, 450 P.2d 927, 932 (Ct.App. 1969) (holding that evidence admissible to show intent and preparation was not to be excluded even if it may have had some inflammatory effect). As we noted in our discussion of Rule 11-404(B), the evidence of Defendant's prior acts had significant probative value in assessing the theories about the motive for the killing that both sides presented at trial. Thus, it was reasonable for the district court to decide that the probative value of this evidence was not substantially outweighed by other considerations, and we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in applying Rule 11-403. See Schifani, 92 N.M. at 129-30, 584 P.2d at 176-77.