TITLE FOUR — RELEVANCY AND ITS LIMITS
Rule 403. Excluding Relevant Evidence for Prejudice, Confusion, Waste of Time, or Other Reasons
Exclusion of Relevant Evidence. The court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of one or more of the following: unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.
Unfair Prejudice. Unfair prejudice means an undue tendency of evidence to move the fact finder to decide the case upon a ground other than the proof of the facts in issue, including hostility toward a party or a witness, sympathy unconnected to the proof, revulsion at conduct not charged, or a wish to punish a person for something other than the matter before the court. Evidence is not unfairly prejudicial merely because it is damaging to the party against whom it is offered; all probative evidence offered by an adversary is damaging, and the Rule addresses only prejudice that is unfair.
Probative Value. In assessing probative value the court shall consider the strength of the inference the evidence supports, the importance of the fact it is offered to prove, the extent to which that fact is genuinely contested, the availability of other and less prejudicial proof of the same fact, and the reliability of the item, including the manner in which it was created, preserved, and produced.
Trials Without a Jury. A petit jury sits in this State only upon a charge of treason, as 6 R. Stat. §§ 131.111 and 131.306 provide; every other trial is a bench trial. In a trial without a jury:
the danger of misleading the jury is inapplicable, and evidence shall not be excluded on that ground alone;
the danger of unfair prejudice is of reduced weight, the court being presumed able to receive evidence for a proper purpose and to disregard it for an improper one; and
the dangers of undue delay, wasting time, and needlessly presenting cumulative evidence retain their full force, and the compressed periods allowed for pre-trial proceedings by Rid. R. Civ. P. 6 and Rid. R. Crim. P. 46 are proper considerations in applying them.
Alternatives to Exclusion. Before excluding evidence under this Rule the court shall consider whether the danger identified can be adequately met by a measure short of exclusion, including:
admission of the item in a form that omits the objectionable part, as Rule 402(5) provides;
receipt of a stipulation in place of the evidence;
control of the mode and order of proof under Rule 611(1); or
a limit upon the quantity of proof under Rule 403(6).
Limits Upon the Quantity of Proof. The court may, in advance of trial or during it, fix reasonable limits upon the number of witnesses a party may call upon a single issue, the number of exhibits a party may offer upon a single issue, and the time allowed for direct and cross-examination. A limit fixed under this subdivision shall be announced on the record in the proceeding communications, shall apply to the parties evenhandedly, and shall be relaxed upon a showing that its application would exclude proof that is neither cumulative nor collateral.
Procedure.
Where the ground for exclusion can reasonably be anticipated, the objecting party shall proceed by motion in limine as Rule 103(6) directs, and shall identify the item, the ground, and the danger relied upon.
Where the ground cannot reasonably be anticipated, the objection shall be made when the evidence is offered, and shall state the specific ground as Rule 103(1)(a) requires.
Argument upon an objection under this Rule shall be heard out of the hearing of a jury where a jury sits, as Rule 104(3) requires, and may be heard in the proceeding communications outside the presence of witnesses.
A party whose evidence is excluded shall preserve the claim of error by an offer of proof under Rule 103(1)(b), which the court may direct be made in question-and-answer form under Rule 103(3).
Statement of Reasons; Reconsideration. The court shall state on the record the danger relied upon and the reasons for its ruling. A ruling under this Rule is subject to reconsideration as the evidence develops, on motion or on the court’s own initiative, and the court may admit evidence de bene under Rule 104(2) subject to a later motion to strike. A ruling made in limine does not dispense with the requirement of an objection when the evidence is offered, except as Rule 103(2) provides.
Excluded Material and the Record of Filings. The electronic filing system affords no means of sealing, redacting, withdrawing, amending, or removing a document once it has been filed, and confidentiality attaches to a case by its type and not to a document by order. Accordingly:
A party shall not file, as an exhibit or as an attachment to any paper, material which that party knows or reasonably should know is subject to exclusion under this Rule or under Rules 404, 407, 408, 409, or 18, unless and until the court has ruled the material admissible. The duty imposed by this subdivision rests upon the filer and is enforceable by sanction under Rid. R. Civ. P. 11 or Rid. R. Crim. P. 48.
Material tendered for the court’s inspection in advance of a ruling shall be transmitted to the court through the proceeding communications and shall not be filed.
Where the court directs that an item be offered in a form omitting an excluded part, the proponent shall prepare the conforming version and file it as a new filing, which bears its own filing date. The earlier filing is neither amended nor removed, and no order shall direct the clerk or the electronic filing system to alter it.
An order excluding evidence operates upon the use of the material in the proceeding. It does not operate upon the record of filings, and shall not be framed as an order to seal, expunge, or strike a document from the docket.
Where the interest to be protected requires that material not be disseminated, the court shall proceed by an order directed to the persons before it, which binds those persons and is enforceable by contempt, and not by an order directed to the electronic filing system.
A recording, image, or other item exceeding fifty (50) megabytes cannot be filed as a single document. The proponent shall offer an excerpt authenticated under Rule 901, together with a summary under Rule 1006 where the omitted portion is material, and shall make the complete item available to every other party and to the court through the proceeding communications.
Effect of Error. No judgment shall be set aside or reversed and no new trial granted on the ground of the improper admission or rejection of evidence unless, upon examination of the entire case, the error appears to have resulted in a miscarriage of justice, as 7 R. Stat. § 132.401 provides. In a criminal case the court shall consider an unpreserved error as Rule 103(5) requires.