State v. Morris
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of two counts of rape of his minor stepdaughter. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded to the court of appeals to consider whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting other-acts evidence under Ohio R. Evid. 404(B) during trial. On remand, the court of appeals vacated Defendant’s conviction and ordered a new trial, concluding that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the other-acts evidence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) in determining the erroneous admission of evidence under Rule 404(B) is harmless error, an appellate court must consider both the impact of the offending evidence on the verdict and the strength of the remaining evidence after the tainted evidence is removed from the record; and (2) the court of appeals in this case did not err in finding that the Rule 404(B) evidence was improperly admitted at trial and in granting a new trial.
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