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Name: People v. Stern
Case #: B158338
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 5
Opinion Date: 08/14/2003
Subsequent History: None
Summary

In the current case, defendant was charged with criminally threatening the victim, by threatening by phone to kill him and make him watch as defendant slit the victim’s mother’s throat. Defendant said he had stabbed someone a few days earlier. The trial court did not abuse it discretion in admitting evidence that nine days earlier defendant had stabbed someone in the arm for the purpose of establishing the victim’s credibility. The court expressly observed that the restrictions on character evidence in Evidence Code section 1101 were inapplicable, because defendant’s prior conduct was offered for a purpose that did not require the fact finder to infer that defendant had a particular disposition, propensity or character trait.