Can a defendant be convicted of making criminal threats against someone who has not been convicted of a charge under the California Penal Code for a similar offence?

In People v. Ogle, the defendant was convicted of, among other things, making criminal threats. (People v. Ogle (2010) 185 Cal.App.4th 1138, 1145.) On appeal, the defendant challenged the admission of evidence of past uncharged acts of domestic violence. (Ibid.) The defendant argued that the court erred in admitting evidence of the uncharged incident of domestic violence because the incident was more inflammatory than the charged offense, was dissimilar to the charged offense, and the admission of the evidence resulted in undue consumption of time. (Ibid.) The court held that, because the record reflected the trial court carefully weighed the probative value of the evidence against the risk of prejudice but concluded the conduct was "necessary to give an honest image of why [the plaintiff] would be so scared [under Penal Code section 422]," the

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court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of the prior uncharged offenses. (Id. at pp. 1145-1146.)