State v. Kinney

Despite a defendant’s proffered stipulation, evidence may be admissible if it is relevant to prove a fact that is at issue notwithstanding the stipulation. Furthermore, evidence against a defendant is not unfairly prejudicial solely because it is graphic in nature.

Defendant appealed a judgment convicting him of four counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree and four counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the second degree. Defendant argued the trial court erred in admitting evidence of videos seized from his computer, despite his offer to stipulate the videos showed sexually explicit conduct with a child and that its creation involved child abuse. The state refused to stipulate to the offer and the trial court admitted the videos as evidence. Defendant appealed arguing his stipulation would have made the evidence irrelevant under OEC 401, 402, and OEC 403 which required evidence to be excluded if the danger of unfair prejudice to defendant substantially outweighed the probative value of the evidence to the state. The Court affirmed the judgment, holding that despite the proffered stipulation, evidence may be admissible if it is relevant to prove a fact that is at issue, notwithstanding the stipulation (here the elements of defendant’s knowledge of the content and defendant’s purpose in possessing them, neither of which were addressed in the proffered stipulation). Finally, the Court held evidence was not unfairly prejudicial against a defendant simply because it was graphic in nature. Affirmed.