Section 11.7 Character of the Victim

• Library: Evidence 2017

3. (§11.7) Character of the Victim

Evidence of a victim’s character is only allowed in limited circumstances. Evidence of a victim’s reputation as a bad person may not be offered by the defendant. See State v. Harris, 781 S.W.2d 137, 145 (Mo. App. S.D. 1989) (court appropriately refused evidence offered by defendant that victim was “a drug dealer, a liar, and an untrustworthy person”). Likewise, evidence of a victim’s reputation as a good person may not be offered by the State. See State v. Bolhofner, 82 S.W.2d 894, 896–98 (Mo. 1935) (evidence of the good character of the deceased in a murder case is inadmissible unless first injected by defendant). In prosecutions for sexual offenses, the defendant’s ability to introduce evidence of the character of the victim is limited by the Missouri rape shield statute, § 491.015, RSMo 2016.

Similar to the exception in civil cases, a defendant may introduce evidence that the victim was quarrelsome or violent to support a self-defense claim when the defendant is...