Evidence Rule 404

RULE 404. Character Evidence Not Admissible to Prove Conduct; Exceptions; Other Crimes Evidence

(a)Character evidence generally.--Evidence of a persons character or character trait, including a trait of care or skill or lack thereof, is not admissible for the purpose of proving that the person acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion except:

(1)Character of accused.--Evidence of a pertinent trait of the accuseds character offered by the accused, which shall not be excluded under Rule 403, or by the prosecution to rebut the same;

(2)Character of victim.--Evidence of a pertinent trait of character of the victim of the crime offered by an accused or by the prosecution to rebut the same, or evidence of a character trait of peacefulness of the victim offered by the prosecution in a homicide case to rebut evidence that the victim was the first aggressor;

(3)Character of witness.--Evidence of the character of a witness as provided in Rule 608.

(b)Other crimes, wrongs, or acts.--Except as otherwise provided by Rule 608(b), evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the disposition of a person in order to show that such person acted in conformity therewith. Such evidence may be admitted for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident when such matters are relevant to a material issue in dispute.

(c)Character and character trait in issue.--Evidence of a persons character or trait of character is admissible when that character or trait is an element of a claim or defense.
HISTORY:Adopted September 15, 1992 to be effective July 1, 1993; paragraphs (a) and (b) amended September 15, 2004 to be effective July 1, 2005; paragraph (b) amended September 12, 2006 to be effective July 1, 2007.