Wednesday, August 06, 2008

People v. Manning (Cal. Ct. App. - July 31, 2008)

Think that admission of prior offenses doesn't matter? Think again.

Without the admission of the evidence regarding the prior offense, there's no way that the defendant here gets found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But with the admission of the prior offense -- notwithstanding the fact that the prior was fairly dissimilar to the current charge (forcibly assaulting a co-worker versus allegedly groping a sedated patient eight years later) -- he definitely gets convicted.