EVIDENCE OF PRIOR UNCHARGED BAD ACTS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED, ERROR HARMLESS HOWEVER.

The Third Department determined evidence of uncharged sexual contact with young girls should not have been admitted in evidence in this rape/sexual-abuse/endangering-the-welfare-of-a-child trial. The error was deemed harmless, however. The limited probative value of the proof was outweighed by its prejudicial effect:

Here, the People moved before trial for permission to offer, among other things, the testimony of four adult female witnesses that defendant had sexual contact with them during the 1970s when he was employed as their music teacher and they were between 12 and 14 years old. * * * The court found that the testimony was not relevant to the charges of rape in the second degree or sexual abuse in the second degree, as defendant's intent to commit these crimes could be inferred from commission of the acts themselves, but that it was relevant to the mens rea element of the charge of endangering the welfare of a child. * * *

… [T]he probative value of the testimony for the limited purpose of showing defendant's mental state in doing kindnesses for the victim was highly limited. The alleged prior bad acts were extremely remote in time, taking place decades previously. Further, there were significant factual differences between the actions that defendant allegedly took to gain the trust of his earlier alleged victims and those he used with the victim. By contrast, the prejudicial impact of the testimony — consisting of descriptions of multiple reprehensible acts allegedly committed by defendant against vulnerable children — was significant. People v Scaringe, 2016 NY Slip Op 01871, 3rd Dept 3-16-16

CRIMINAL LAW (EVIDENCE OF PRIOR UNCHARGED BAD ACTS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED)/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, MOLINEUX, EVIDENCE OF PRIOR UNCHARGED BAD ACTS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED)