Stern

I. INTRODUCTION

In another case, defendant, Scott Frank Stem, stabbed an unidentified man during a fight in Hollywood. The Hollywood stabbing was not charged in this case. The Hollywood stabbing occurred several days before defendant made a threatening telephone call to the victim in this case, Kevin Hird. During the telephone call, defendant threatened the lives of Mr. Hird’s family. Defendant also threatened to kill Mr. Hird. Additionally, defendant threatened to slit Mr. Hird’s mother’s throat. Mr. Hird was told he would be forced to watch his mother’s throat being slit. In the telephone conversation, defendant claimed to have stabbed somebody else in the throat several nights earlier. The trial court ruled that the Hollywood stabbing was admissible in this case to support the credibility of Mr. Hird’s testimony concerning the threat during the telephone call to slit his mother’s throat. The trial court’s ruling was based in part on the “Truth-in-Evidence” provisions of article I, section 28, subdivision (d) of the California Constitution. We conclude the “Truth-in-Evidence” provisions of article I, section 28, subdivision (d) of the California Constitution vested the…

I write separately to emphasize that this case does not involve Evidence Code section 1101 (section 1101) because the defendant’s prior conduct was offered for a purpose that did not require the fact finder to infer that the defendant had a particular disposition, propensity, or character trait.

Section 1101 is implicated when evidence of a person’s character is “offered to prove his or her conduct on a specified occasion.” (§ 1101, subd. (a).) Here, the evidence that Scott Stem (Stem) was involved in a stabbing incident was not offered for the purpose of proving conduct other than the stabbing. It was offered and admitted for the limited purpose of supporting the credibility of the victim’s testimony about Stem’s threat. The testimony concerning the stabbing was pertinent to and corroborative of the victim’s recollection of Stem’s language in the phone call—language that was the foundation of the charges of making criminal threats and attempting to dissuade a witness. Because this use of evidence concerning prior misconduct does not require the inference that if Stem was involved in a stabbing in the past he is likely to have acted in a specific manner on the occasion in…

Certified for Partial Publication. [*] .

In another case, defendant, Scott Frank Stern, stabbed an unidentified man during a fight in Hollywood. The Hollywood stabbing was not charged in this case. The Hollywood stabbing occurred several days before defendant made a threatening telephone call to the victim in this case, Kevin Hird. During the telephone call, defendant threatened the lives of Mr. Hird's family. Defendant also threatened to kill Mr. Hird. Additionally, defendant threatened to slit Mr. Hird's mother's throat. Mr. Hird was told he would be forced to watch his mother's throat being slit. In the telephone conversation, defendant claimed to have stabbed somebody else in the throat several nights earlier. The trial court ruled that the Hollywood stabbing was admissible in this case to support the credibility of Mr. Hird's testimony concerning the threat during the telephone call to slit his mother's throat. The trial court's ruling was based in part on the "Truth-in-Evidence" provisions of article I, section 28, subdivision (d) of the California Constitution. We conclude the "Truth-in-Evidence" provisions of article I, section 28, subdivision (d) of the…