Opinion ID: 794279
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: evidence of bissonette's prior bad acts

Text: 21 Wicahpe next contends that the district court committed reversible error by excluding evidence that Bissonette had violently stabbed a mutual acquaintance five years earlier. Wicahpe attempted to introduce this evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), as relevant to Wicahpe's state of mind for self-defense. The government contends that the evidence is inadmissible as a specific instance of conduct. We review the district court's evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Waloke, 962 F.2d 824, 829-30 (8th Cir.1992). 22 Rule 404(a)(2) permits inquiry into a victim's character, and Rule 405(b) allows that proof to come by way of specific instances of prior conduct [i]n cases in which character or a trait of character ... is an essential element of a charge, claim, or defense.  (Emphasis added.) In Waloke, this court recognized that in a self-defense case, evidence of the victim's violent character, as proven through specific prior acts, may be admissible. Waloke, 962 F.2d at 830. We affirmed the exclusion of such evidence in Waloke because the district court was within its discretion to prohibit the evidence under Rule 403. Id. Thus, the government's contention that evidence of a victim's prior bad acts are never admissible is incorrect. 23 The question remains, however, whether the evidence was properly excluded pursuant to Rule 403. The district court engaged in an explicit analysis of whether to admit this prior assault evidence. It first determined that there was a significant risk of a mini-trial on the assault, since there was no prior conviction, and the only witnesses were Wicahpe and the victim. The court also viewed the probative value of the evidence as weak, since the defendant wanted to use the five-year-old assault by Bissonette, someone with whom he had remained close friends, to show that he feared Bissonette on the day of the stabbing. Thus, the court refused to admit this evidence. 24 We find Waloke to be instructive in this case. There, the defendant assaulted someone after a day of drinking. The defendant sought to introduce evidence that his victim had engaged in prior acts of violence. The district court refused the evidence because of concern that it would trigger collateral mini trials on the bad acts. Id. at 830. Instead, the court permitted the defendant to present evidence that the defendant had a reputation for violence, without reference to specific acts. Noting that the district court has wide discretion in determining the admissibility of evidence, our court found no abuse of that discretion in excluding the prior act evidence. Id. 25 Similarly here, the district court refused to allow evidence of a specific violent act, but permitted evidence related to the victim's reputation for aggression and violence. Moreover, there were concerns about the temporal proximity of the prior assault, which occurred five years earlier. As the district court noted, its probative value on the issue of Wicahpe's fearful state of mind was minimal, considering that he and Bissonette had remained friends during the time between the assault on Ten Fingers and the stabbing. Further, the defense presented evidence that Bissonette had engaged in two assaults on the very day of the stabbing, one of which was the brutal, violent attack on Wicahpe's father moments earlier. We question whether stale evidence of an adolescent assault would be anything more than cumulative considering the evidence that was actually admitted. Thus, we find no abuse of discretion in the exclusion of the assault evidence.