California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Cortez, 201 Cal.Rptr.3d 846, 369 P.3d 521, 63 Cal.4th 101 (Cal. 2016):
Evidence Code section 352. For purposes of that section, "prejudice" does not mean damage to a party's case that flows from relevant, probative evidence. Rather, it means the tendency of evidence to evoke an emotional bias against a party because of extraneous factors unrelated to the issues. (People v. Doolin (2009) 45 Cal.4th 390, 439, 87 Cal.Rptr.3d 209, 198 P.3d 11.) Thus, evidence is subject to exclusion under Evidence Code section 352 on the basis of prejudice only " when it is of such nature as to inflame the emotions of the jury, motivating them to use the information, not to logically evaluate the point upon which it is relevant, but to reward or punish one side because of the jurors' emotional reaction. In such a circumstance, the evidence is unduly prejudicial because of the
[63 Cal.4th 129]
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