The role of evidence for and in the adjudication of factual issues in American litigation

Fed. R. Evid. 412(b)(1)(A) ("(1) In a criminal case, the following evidence is admissible, if otherwise admissible under these rules: (A) evidence of specific instances of sexual behavior by the alleged victim offered to prove that a person other than the accused was the source of semen, injury, or other physical evidence").Other instances of the alleged victim's sexual conduct are admissible in criminal proceedings to show that a person other than the accused was the source of semen, injury, or other physical evidence.

Fed. R. Evid. 415 ("In a civil case in which a claim for damages or other relief is predicated on a party's alleged commission of conduct constituting an offense of sexual assault or child molestation, evidence of that party's commission of another offense or offenses of sexual assault or child molestation is admissible and may be...Federal Rule of Evidence 415 and comparable rules in some states create an exception to the prohibition against "circumstantial" character evidence, the prohibition in Federal Rule against the use of character to show conduct. Rules such as Rule 415 provide that in a civil action which a claim rests on a party's alleged conduct constituting a criminal sexual assault or child molestation, evidence of that party's commission of another offense or offenses of sexual assault or child molestation is relevant and admissible.

United States v. Jennings, 496 F.3d 344, 349-350 (4th Cir. 2007) (upholding trial court's admission of testimony of two passengers [about the statements of the 13-year old girl on what had occurred on the flight] as excited....A statement falls within the hearsay exception created by Federal Rule of Evidence 803(2) or a comparable State rule for excited utterances, only if the declarant (the maker of the statement) was under the stress of the startling event or condition when he or she made the statement that relates to that startling event or condition.