McKibben v. Sedona Police Department et al

Filing 127

ORDER re 102 Motion in Limine to exclude evidence regarding department of public safety interview summaries. The motion is DENIED without prejudice to a request for a limited purpose instruction to the jury with respect to evidence about Plaintiff offered for a proper purpose, such as the calculation of damages or general background information about Plaintiff. Signed by Judge John W Sedwick on 6/24/18. (JWS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Timothy McKibben,
Plaintiff,
vs.
William Knuth, et al.,
Defendants.

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3:17-cv-8009 JWS:JWS
ORDER AND OPINION
[Re: Motion at docket 102]

I. MOTIONS PRESENTED
At docket 102 Defendants ask the court to exclude evidence of Plaintiff’s
character to show that “he has no propensity for violent confrontations but that instead
has a propensity to be “peace-loving.” Plaintiff responds at docket 116. No reply was
filed.
II. DISCUSSION
Defendants are correct that character evidence may not be introduced to prove
that on any given occasion a person acted in accord with a trait of such person’s
character. Fed. R. Ev. 404 (a)(1). Plaintiff recognizes this and indicates that he will not
seek to introduce evidence to show that he acted in accord with a character trait such
as a peaceful nature. Plaintiff is correct that Defendants cast too broad a net by
seeking to exclude virtually any evidence relating to the kind of person Plaintiff is. For

example, evidence that Plaintiff is a veteran is admissible background information to
allow the jury to obtain some of idea of who Plaintiff is. Furthermore, additional
information about the kind of person Plaintiff is would be relevant to and admissible for
the purpose of calculating damages. Finally, if Defendants attack Plaintiff’s character
for truthfulness, then Plaintiff may offer opinion testimony to show he has a character
for truthfulness. Fed. R. Evid. 608(b).
III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons above, the motion at docket 102 is DENIED without prejudice to
a request for a limited purpose instruction to the jury with respect to evidence about
Plaintiff offered for a proper purpose such as the calculation of damages or general
background information about Plaintiff.
DATED this 24th day of June 2018.

/s/ JOHN W. SEDWICK
SENIOR JUDGE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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