Opinion ID: 1120826
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Crawford's alleged prior bad acts

Text: Evidence of a defendant's prior bad acts is inadmissible to show that he or she acted in conformity therewith. NRS 48.045(2). The justification for this rule is that [e]vidence of uncharged misconduct may unduly influence the jury, and result in a conviction of the accused because the jury believes he is a bad person. Berner v. State, 104 Nev. 695, 697, 765 P.2d 1144, 1145 (1988). Such evidence may be admissible, however, to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. NRS 48.045(2). It is within the trial court's sound discretion whether prior bad acts are admissible, and such decisions will not be disturbed on appeal unless manifestly wrong. See Brackeen v. State, 104 Nev. 547, 552, 763 P.2d 59, 63 (1988). As noted above, the trial court admitted evidence indicating that Crawford had beaten his wife and ejected her from the home, and that he possibly contracted a venereal disease from an act of intercourse with a female neighbor. The State argues that evidence of the prior bad acts was admissible for two reasons. First, the State contends that Crawford's separation from his wife shows he was sexually frustrated on the night of the assaults. Second, the State argues that it was necessary for the State to prove that the assaults were against the will of the victim. Finally, the State maintains that the prior bad acts tended to show that the assaults were accomplished by force. We disagree. The stated relevance of these prior bad acts is strained and questionable at best. Crawford's violence towards his wife and their ensuing separation occurred over a month before the alleged assaults, and the assertion of an act of domestic violence hardly supports an inference that Crawford was violent with a non-spouse, let alone a male. Moreover, the evidence does not support the inference that Crawford's time away from his wife left him sexually frustrated. To the contrary, according credence to Felger's testimony, Crawford had sex with at least one female during the time he was separated from his wife. And, there is no evidence that this encounter was anything but consensual. Moreover, Crawford's heterosexual experiences hardly provided any probative basis for inferring that he developed the appetite and intent for a homosexual relationship. The admission of this equivocal, irrelevant evidence constituted prejudicial error.