Land Mine #3: Admission and Exclusion of Evidence

Land Mine #3: Admission and Exclusion of Evidence

If the trial judge denied your pretrial motion in limine, and the evidence that was the subject of your motion in limine is offered during trial, you still need to object. A contemporaneous objection must be made when the evidence is offered to preserve the issue for review.

If the trial judge also has excluded evidence you believe is significant to your case, and you have only made a general reference to the evidence during argument before the trial judge, the appellate court will not reverse the judge or order a new trial on the basis of this excluded evidence. The appellate court will not even consider your argument unless you make an “offer of proof.” Did you make known to the trial court the substance of the evidence by an offer of proof? Or is the evidence obvious from the context of the record? Documentary evidence must also be proffered. The trial court’s refusal to permit the proffer is generally reversible error.

Next week we will focus on Land Mine #4: Objections.