State v. Stevens

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

Evidence Rule 55 prohibits the introduction into evidence of other crimes or civil wrongs to prove a defendant’s criminal disposition as a basis for establishing guilt of the crime charged. The Rule expressly permits such evidence to be admitted to prove other facts in issue, such as “motive, intent, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident,” but admissibility is subject to the trial court’s duty to weigh the probative value of the evidence against its capacity for prejudice. State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123, 265 (1987);…