State v. Smith

The principal issue presented in this *774appeal is whether the trial court committed reversible error by admitting, pursuant to ER 404(b), extensive evidence of three burglaries, admittedly committed by the defendant, to prove the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator of three rapes for which no assailant had been positively identified. Over 35 years ago, Justice Hill warned against the admission of such evidence, where "its effect would be to generate heat instead of diffusing light, or . . . where the minute peg of relevancy will be entirely obscured by the dirty linen hung upon it."…