19-19-404. Character evidence--Crimes or other acts.
(a) Character evidence.
(1)Prohibited uses. Evidence of a person's character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character or trait.
(2)Exceptions for a defendant or victim in a criminal case. The following exceptions apply in a criminal case:
(A)A defendant may offer evidence of the defendant's pertinent trait, and if the evidence is admitted, the prosecutor may offer evidence to rebut it;
(B)Subject to the limitations in §19-19-412, a defendant may offer evidence of an alleged victim's pertinent trait, and if the evidence is admitted, the prosecutor may:
(i)Offer evidence to rebut it; and
(ii)Offer evidence of the defendant's same trait; and
(C)In a homicide case, the prosecutor may offer evidence of the alleged victim's trait of peacefulness to rebut evidence that the victim was the first aggressor.
(3)Exceptions for a witness. Evidence of a witness's character may be admitted under §§19-19-607 to 19-19-609, inclusive.
(b) Crimes, wrongs, or other acts.
(1)Prohibited uses. Evidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not admissible to prove a person's character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.
(2)Permitted uses; notice in a criminal case. This evidence may be admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident. On request by a defendant in a criminal case, the prosecutor must:
(A)Provide reasonable notice of the general nature of any such evidence that the prosecutor intends to offer at trial; and
(B)Do so before trial--or during trial if the court, for good cause, excuses lack of pretrial notice.
Source: SL 1979, ch 358 (Supreme Court Rule 78-2, Rule 404); SDCL §§19-12-4, 19-12-5; SL 2016, ch 239 (Supreme Court Rule 15-26), eff. Jan. 1, 2016.