Court Opinion

ID: 9602380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:53:57.510421+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:01:27.456165
License: Public Domain

ELLETT, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
The evidence in this case is admissible under Rule 55, Utah Rules of Evidence, which states:
. evidence that a person committed a crime . . . on a specified occasion, is inadmissible to prove his disposition to commit crime . . . but, such evidence is admissible when relevant to prove some other material fact including absence of mistake or accident, motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge or identity. [Emphasis added.]
The rules of evidence are procedural law, not substantive law. It is the Court’s sole prerogative to determine what evidence is admissible, and those rules are contained in the Utah Rules of Evidence as adopted by this Court. The legislature has no authority to adopt or amend such procedural rules; and until modified by this Court, Rule 55 will control the admissibility of evidence. I would affirm the judgment.