U.S. v. Goodin, 67 M.J. 158

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Evidence: Other Acts

1. MRE 404(b) excludes evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts offered solely to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith; such evidence may still be introduced under MRE 404(b) if it is offered for another purpose, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Evidence: Relevance

1. MRE 401 provides that relevant evidence means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence

Trial Stages: Appeals: Harmless / Prejudicial Error

1. even if the military judge erred in admitting the testimony of appellant’s wife regarding appellant’s sexual activities with his wife and his possession of pornographic magazines, such error was harmless in a prosecution for committing an indecent act on a child and possessing child pornography, where (1) the government presented substantial evidence in support of its prosecution, including numerous images of child pornography found on appellant’s computer and the testimony of his stepdaughter, the alleged victim, (2) the defense case, on the other hand, was not particularly strong, consisting primarily of counsel’s cross-examination of the government’s witnesses, yet counsel was unable to identify any significant contradictions or gaps in the witnesses’ testimony, (3) the wife’s testimony was material as it provided the foundation for the government’s theory that appellant would commit an indecent act with his stepdaughter because of his particular sexual needs, and (4) the quality of the wife’s testimony was adequate to support the truth of the matters stated; considering these four factors, particularly the strength of the government’s case and the marginal nature of the defense case, it was unlikely that the wife’s disputed testimony substantially influenced the factfinder

Trial Stages: Appeals: Standards of Review, Burdens, etc.

1. an appellate court reviews a military judge’s decision to admit evidence for an abuse of discretion
2. in the event of an erroneous admission of evidence, an appellate court evaluates claims of prejudice by weighing four factors: (1) the strength of the government’s case, (2) the strength of the defense case, (3) the materiality of the evidence in question, and (4) the quality of the evidence in question; it applies the same four-pronged test for erroneous admission of government evidence as for erroneous exclusion of defense evidence