Rule 2:404.Character Evidence Not Admissible to Prove Conduct; Exceptions; Other Crimes

Rule 2:404 states the general rule against character evidence and then works through its exceptions. Subdivision (a) bars evidence of a person’s character or character trait when it is offered to prove that the person acted in conformity with that trait on a particular occasion. The concern behind the rule is familiar: a jury told that a defendant has a reputation for dishonesty or violence may decide the case based on who the person is rather than what the evidence shows they did on the occasion at issue.

Three exceptions follow. An accused can offer evidence of a pertinent character trait — a criminal defendant’s reputation for peacefulness, for instance — and the prosecution can respond with rebuttal evidence once the accused opens that door. A victim’s pertinent character trait or acts of violence can come in when an accused has offered evidence of self-defense, or when the prosecution offers it to rebut the defense’s evidence or, in narrow circumstances, as circumstantial evidence of the victim’s death when other evidence is unavailable — subject to the separate limits Rule 2:412 places on evidence of a complaining witness’s prior sexual conduct. And a witness’s character trait can come in as governed by the rules on impeachment and credibility found elsewhere in the evidence rules.

Subdivision (b) addresses a related but distinct category: evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. That evidence is generally inadmissible to prove a person’s character in order to show they acted in conformity with it — the same concern as subdivision (a), applied to specific bad acts rather than reputation or opinion. But if the legitimate probative value of the evidence outweighs its incidental prejudice, it can come in for a non-character purpose: to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake or accident, or a common scheme or plan connecting the acts to the offense charged. Rule 2:413 supplies a separate, additional pathway for evidence of similar crimes in child sexual offense cases.