State v. Scott

First, I dissent because the majority has departed from our established standard of review for Rule 403 rulings by the trial court and has established a new standard. Heretofore, the standard of review of a trial judge’s ruling, as in this case, that the probative value of a particular piece of evidence outweighed any danger of unfair prejudice under Rule 403 had been an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Thompson, 314 N.C. 618, 336 S.E.2d 78 (1985). The majority’s new rule is, “When the intrinsic nature of the evidence itself is such that its probative value is always necessarily…