A trial court properly admitted evidence of a defendant’s prior incident of domestic violence in a current prosecution for shooting a different ex-boyfriend. The defendant was convicted of attempted murder with personal use of a firearm and great bodily injury after she shot a man with whom she had had an on-again, off-again relationship. On appeal, she argued that the court had erred in admitting prior conduct under Evidence Code section 1109. The court first rejected her argument that she and the present victim had not had a “dating relationship” within the meaning of the domestic violence statutes, noting that while they had not lived together they had dated for six to eight months, saw each other regularly, and were physically intimate. Second, the court found that the prior conduct involved domestic violence, where the testimony showed that she had pointed a gun at a former boyfriend. Finally, the court found that the current offense and the prior offense were sufficiently similar to overcome a challenge under Evidence Code section 352.
Case Summaries