California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Swierski, H038846 (Cal. App. 2014):
9. Under Evidence Code section 1101, subdivision (a), "evidence of a person's character or a trait of his or her character," including in the form of "evidence of specific instances of his or her conduct" is "inadmissible when offered to prove his or her conduct on a specified occasion." However, under Evidence Code section 1109, subdivision (a)(1), "in a criminal action in which the defendant is accused of an offense involving domestic violence, evidence of the defendant's commission of other domestic violence is not made inadmissible by Section 1101 if the evidence is not inadmissible pursuant to Section 352." Thus, "[s]ection 1109, in effect, 'permits the admission of defendant's other acts of domestic violence for the purpose of showing a propensity to commit such crimes. [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (People v. Brown (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1222, 1232.) Murder is a crime of domestic violence for the purposes of Evidence Code section 1109; it is " 'the ultimate form of domestic violence.' " (People v. Brown, supra, at p. 1237.) However, evidence of acts occurring more than 10 years before the charged offense is inadmissible under Evidence Code section 1109, subdivision (e), unless the court determines that the admission of the evidence is in the interest of justice.
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