walking while black - Trayvon Martin

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't understand. What does that even mean?

The legal definition:
Prior bad acts are sometimes allowed as evidence in a criminal case as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. They are governed by federal and state evidence rules, which vary by state. Becuase of the potential for prejudice to the defendant, they must be substantially relevant for some purpose other than to point out the defendant's criminal character and thus to show the probability that he acted in conformity therewith. Therfore, the relevance and probative value of the evidence must be demonstrated.


Usually, a prior bad act entails a crime committed by the defendant in the past, accusation of incriminating or illegal behavior in the past, or something to that effect (based on cases that I've followed). In this case, O'Mara is using previous calls to 911 where George identified black males as suspicious as "prior bad acts". Never seen it used in such a way.

But, going by the legal definition above, it's actually a pretty smart move, imo. O'Mara may be able to make a case that those calls will be more prejudicial to George than they are relevant or of probative value to the case.