Pg 16 Flashcards
What are the three different forms that character evidence can take?
Reputation, opinion, or specific instances of conduct
How do you establish reputation?
In any substantial community of people that the person is well-known in. This can be his work, where he does business, his school, etc.
Any time that you are dealing with reputation or opinion evidence, what is the timeframe for it?
It is based on the time of the event in question, not at trial
What is an example of a specific instance of conduct?
A supervisor can testify that every time the defendant suspected someone of shoplifting, he reported it to security, even if the person was his friend
What does it mean for character to be at issue?
When a character trait is something a party needs to prove to establish an essential element of a claim, charge, or offense, and evidence of character is not being used to show that someone acted in conformity with that trait on a particular occasion
What are the different forms you can use to prove character at issue?
Specific instances, reputation, and opinion
What are the five major situations that you are likely to see character being at issue?
– Defamation suit where you have to prove that a character trait you accused someone of is correct
– negligence suit when damages are based on monetary value of harm to the person‘s reputation
– wrongful termination where the employer has to prove he fired the employee for a character trait like laziness
– a custody battle where you have to prove the parent is unfit because of a general trait like carelessness
– negligent entrustment where you have to show that the defendant had knowledge or belief about the driver’s fitness
How could character be at issue in a defamation suit?
Truth is a defence to defamation, so if someone wrote an article saying that a man was corrupt, the author would have to prove that the man has a general character of being corrupt to show that the author was telling the truth.
How would character be at issue in a negligence suit?
If the damages are based on the monetary value of the harm to a person‘s reputation, if the defendant can show that the person was widely known for that trait, such as being corrupt, then the deformation didn’t do the victim any damage
How is character at issue in a wrongful termination suit?
If an employer has to prove that he fired and employee for a character trait such as laziness
How is character at issue in something like a custody battle?
It is necessary to prove that one parent is unfit to share custody, and you have to do that through showing something like a general trait of carelessness
How is character at issue in a negligent entrustment suit?
It’s necessary to show that the defendant had knowledge or belief about the driver’s fitness to prove that he breached his duty of care in letting that person drive
What are the times that character is at issue regarding the party’s knowledge or belief about another person, not the party themselves?
– if the defendant invokes self-defense
– in a rape trial
– for stalking
– committing a crime under duress
How is the defendant invoking self-defence considered to be a character at issue situation where the party’s knowledge or belief is actually about another person‘s character that is at issue?
If the defendant invokes self-defence in response to a charge for homicide, assault, or violence, then self-defence requires an honest and reasonable belief about a threat of imminent harm from the victim, with a need to respond with proportionate force. If the defendant believed the victim was going to attack him, and that is why he attacked first, that element is established. The issue is about what the defendant knew or believed, so anything that factors into that belief is relevant to it
How is character at issue in a rape trial when it has to do with the party’s knowledge or belief about another person‘s character at issue?
If the defendant claims he knew or heard that the victim was promiscuous, this relates to him reasonably believing the victim consented to sex.
Although the rape shield law stops the defendant from introducing evidence unless it falls into an exception to the law dealing with prior sexual contact with the defendant, semen or injury, or meets the 403 reverse balancing test for civil cases
