State v. White

I concur specially. It would have been the better practice to allow appellant to produce the excluded evidence of the victim’s venereal disease. The majority correctly points out in its opening paragraph that due process in a fair trial requires the right to present material exculpatory evidence to the jury. If the defendant’s offer of proof is not perfect, but meets reasonable standards of materiality and relevance, the evidence should go to the jury for whatever weight the jury accords it. That happens frequently when a defendant strives to keep out so called Spreigl evidence of prior bad…