People v. Roides

Memorandum: In this prosecution for arson and assault, the court properly received evidence of defendant’s prior uncharged crimes and bad acts on the People’s case-in-chief. Evidence of prior uncharged crimes is admissible if it is directly probative of some issue in the case (People v Ventimiglia, 52 NY2d 350, 359; People v Vails, 43 NY2d 364, 368). Here, the evidence established that defendant smashed his wife’s car windows; slashed her tires; broke two windows on the house in which she was living; threatened to give her a *968"good beating”, to cut her throat, and to put her and her friends in…