washington mock trial rules of evidence - YMCA of Greater Seattle

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RULES OF EVIDENCENote -- All of following articles of the Federal rules have been omitted as inapplicable:Article II (Judicial Notice), Article III (Presumptions Civil Actions and Proceedings), Article IX(Authentication and Identification), and Article X (Contents of Writing, Recordings andPhotographs).Article I. General ProvisionsRule 101. ScopeThese Rules of Evidence govern the trial proceedings of high school mock trial competitionsin Washington State.RULE 102. Purpose and ConstructionThese Rules are intended to secure fairness in administration of the trials, eliminate unjustdelay, and promote the laws of evidence so that the truth may be ascertained.Article IV. Relevancy and its LimitsRule 401. DEFINITION OF "RELEVANT EVIDENCE"Relevant evidence" means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any factthat is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probablethan it would be without the evidence.Rule 402. RELEVANT EVIDENCE GENERALLY ADMISSIBLE: IRRELEVANT EVIDENCEINADMISSIBLEAll relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided in these Rules. Irrelevantevidence is not admissible.Comment: The rule creates a very minimal threshold of admissibility. “Any evidence whichhas a tendency” to establish a fact is relevant and therefore admissible. In a case basedprimarily on circumstantial evidence, the relevance of a particularly small circumstance maynot be readily apparent when viewed in isolation, but if it is “of consequence” to theoutcome of the action it will be admissible. It is the duty of an attorney to persuade thecourt of the relevance of evidence.Rule 403. EXCLUSION OF RELEVANT EVIDENCE ON GROUNDS OF PREJUDICE, CONFUSION,OR WASTE OF TIMEAlthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantiallyoutweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, if it confuses the issues, if it is misleading,
or if it causes undue delay, wastes time, or is a needless presentation of cumulativeevidence.Comment: This rule applies with equal force to direct examination and cross-examinationand is to be applied in an evenhanded manner by the court to ensure fairness. The rule isintended to exclude only evidence which creates “unfair” prejudice. After all, all evidence isprejudicial in the sense that it is offered to persuade the jury to believe more strongly inthe case of the party offering it.However, since it is considered to be an extraordinary remedy when the court excludesrelevant evidence, the party seeking to have the evidence excluded bears a heavy burden ofpersuasion to convince the court that the probative value of the relevant evidence “issubstantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.” Judges will rule verycautiously on such motions to exclude relevant evidence. (Note: the National rules do notinclude the word substantially, but most judges will apply that standard becausesubstantially outweighed is the phrase in the Federal rules.)Rule 404. CHARACTER EVIDENCE NOT ADMISSIBLE TO PROVE CONDUCT; EXCEPTIONS;OTHER CRIMES(a) Character Evidence. -- Evidence of a person's character or character trait, is notadmissible to prove action regarding a particular occasion, except:(1) Character of accused. -- Evidence of a pertinent character trait offered by anaccused, or by the prosecution to rebut same;(2) Character of victim. -- Evidence of a pertinent character trait of the victim ofthe crime offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut same, or evidenceof a character trait of peacefulness of the victim offered by the prosecution in ahomicide case to rebut evidence that the victim was the aggressor;(3) Character of witness. -- Evidence of the character of a witness as provided inRules 607, 608 and 609.(b) Other crimes, wrongs, or acts. -- Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is notadmissible to prove character of a person in order to show an action conforms tocharacter. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive,opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake oraccident.Comment: The term “character” as used in the rules of evidence refers to a person's generaltendencies with respect to honesty, peacefulness, temperance, truthfulness, and similartraits. This rule is concerned only with preventing a party from attempting to introduce acharacter trait as substantive evidence. For example, this rule would exclude evidence thata person was an alcoholic if it were being offered as substantive evidence to prove that the
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