Opinion ID: 1481573
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: R.E. 404(b) states:

Text: Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. The rule operates to exclude evidence of prior acts that are similar to the charged crime, if the evidence is introduced for the purpose of showing a general propensity to commit the acts in question. See State v. Parker, 149 Vt. 393, 397, 545 A.2d 512, 515 (1988). Particularly in jury trials, the dangers of prejudice and confusion outweigh the probative value of such evidence, if it is offered only for that purpose. E. Cleary, McCormick on Evidence § 190, at 557 (3d ed. 1984). Evidence of prior acts may be admitted, however, if it is relevant to some other legitimate issue in the case, such as identity, intent, preparation, plan, or knowledge. State v. Cardinal, 155 Vt. 411, 414, 584 A.2d 1152, 1154 (1990). Although relevant, the evidence will be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. V.R.E. 403; Parker, 149 Vt. at 400, 545 A.2d at 516. When prior act evidence is offered to show identity, the test for relevance is demanding. See State v. Hall, 40 Wash. App. 162, 165-66, 697 P.2d 597, 600 (1985). The pattern and characteristics of the prior acts must be so distinctive, in effect, to constitute the defendant's signature. See id. (a prior sexual act may be admitted to show identity only if it is so similar that it constitutes the handiwork of the accused); E. Cleary, supra, § 190, at 560. Although the prior acts of the accused and the charged acts do not have to be identical, they must possess common features that make it highly likely that the unknown perpetrator and the accused are the same person. Whereas a few common features that are unique may be sufficient, a larger number of them, less remarkable, but taken together, may also have significant probative value. United States v. Myers, 550 F.2d 1036, 1045 (5th Cir.1977). Defendant argues that the stringent relevance standard for identity is not met in this case because the sexual acts described by his girlfriend are not uncommon, and are described in books, magazines and films available to the general public. Therefore, he contends, his prior sexual relationship with his girlfried cannot be considered so idiosyncratic as to identify him as the perpetrator in the case at bar. Notwithstanding the stringency of the criteria for admissibility, evidence of prior similar crimes has been admitted to show identity in many rape and sexual assault cases. For example, in State v. Shedrick, 59 Ohio St.3d 146, 150-51, 572 N.E.2d 59, 64-65 (1991), evidence of a past rape was used to show the assailant's identity under Rule 404(b), [1] where the defendant attacked both victims in a similar way, turned each victim's pants inside out, and assaulted both victims vaginally and anally. The court concluded that evidence of the defendant's prior rape of the first victim was sufficiently similar to be probative on the issue of identity. Id. at 151, 572 N.E.2d at 65. In State v. White, 101 N.C.App. 593, 595-601, 401 S.E.2d 106, 107-10 (1991), evidence of a past rape was used to show identity under Rule 404(b) where both victims were held in the same manner, both were told to shut up, and both were ordered to remove their clothing. When the victims refused, the defendant removed their clothing, and ordered both victims to put it in. These cases, and numerous others like them, [2] are necessarily fact-specific, but they provide guidance on the kind of prior sexual practices that have been admitted under Rule 404(b) against defendants accused of rape. At the very least, the cases show that evidence of sexual acts that are well known to the majority of adult members of society was admitted when it had a strong tendency to identify the defendants. Thus, that the sexual acts and practices detailed in the testimony here may be engaged in by others does not necessarily mandate the exclusion of the evidence under Rule 404(b). Application of the rule focuses on the degree of similarity between the prior acts and the charged acts, not on whether the acts themselves are uncommon. It is unlikely that the number of shared characteristics [3] between the ritualistic nature of defendant's sexual activity with his girlfriend, and that of defendant and the victim, occurred by chance. When the sexual acts are taken together with the specific statements that the girlfriend and the victim were forced to repeat, and the defendant's frequent use of cocaine during the activity, the evidence strongly tended to show that defendant was the perpetrator. We conclude that the evidence was highly probative on the identity issue, and that the relevance standard was satisfied. Defendant asserts, however, that his girlfriend's testimony could not be relevant because her sexual relationship with him was consensual, citing State v. Coe, 101 Wash.2d 772, 684 P.2d 668 (1984). In Coe, the defendant's girlfriend testified that he liked to masturbate, and used certain vulgar terms while they were engaged in sexual relations. The court held, however, that the perpetrator's words and actions with the victim, though similar to Coe's behavior with his girlfriend, were not so idiosyncratic as to establish identity under Rule 404(b). Id. at 778, 684 P.2d at 672. The court then questioned, in dicta, whether evidence of an individual's behavior in a consensual sexual relationship could ever be relevant to demonstrate modus operandi in a prosecution for a violent, nonconsensual act. Id. Only one other court has dealt with the admission of prior consensual sexual conduct under Rule 404(b) in a prosecution for sexual assault. State v. Plaster, 424 N.W.2d 226, 227-31 (Iowa 1988). There, in a trial for sexual assault on a different victim, a woman testified about injuries she received during prior consensual relations with the defendant. The witness testified that the defendant had vigorously manipulated her vagina with his hand, causing her to bleed, and that despite her requests to stop, he continued the manipulation for some time. The prosecution charged the defendant with committing virtually the same sexual acts on the victim. Even though consent was the issue, not identity, the Supreme Court of Iowa held that evidence of prior consensual sexual conduct with the partner was properly admitted under Rule 404(b) because it tended to show the same peculiar and characteristic behavior pattern manifested in the crime charged. Id. at 230. In our view, when the issue is identity, the key to admissibility under Rule 404(b) is similarity, not consent. The fact that defendant obtained his girlfriend's consent to engage in the same acts he perpetrated on the victim is of little relevance to whether the acts were so similar as to demonstrate the likelihood that defendant committed them. It is true that, in many rape and sexual assault cases, the prior act evidence admitted to show identity includes the manner of approach and the method of subduing a victim. See, e.g., State v. Johnson, 317 N.C. 417, 421-30, 347 S.E.2d 7, 12-15 (1986). Here, the points of similarity between the prior acts and the charged acts, although not related to the approach of the victim or his girlfriend, were nonetheless sufficient, in and of themselves, to point to the accused.