Court Opinion

ID: 9757269
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:28:31.940684+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:37.500955
License: Public Domain

*207NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that appellee’s statements relating to a prior criminal act were properly admitted under the facts of this case. I take issue with the suggestion that this ruling is a novel one and that we are here creating a new exception.
The purpose for excluding evidence of prior unrelated crimes is first that it is irrelevant and second that the effect of such testimony creates an unfair prejudice against the defendant in the minds of the jury. Where, as here, it is unquestionably relevant to a disputed element of the crime charged its admissibility cannot be questioned. The evidence is not being offered to show a predisposition to commit a criminal act on the part of the accused, but rather to describe the threat employed to overcome the will of the victim. Nor is it being offered to establish that appellee had in fact committed a prior criminal act. The recognition of a “verbal act” is not new to our law, nor is its admissibility questionable where its relevancy is clear.
ZAPPALA, J., joins in this concurring opinion.