STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MARK C. SHEPPARD A-1423-11T4

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MARK C. SHEPPARD 

A-1423-11T4/ A-0195-12T4(CONSOLIDATED) 

In this appeal, we consider State v. Rose, 206 N.J. 141 (2011) in the context of when other bad acts evidence do not occur contemporaneously with the crime charged and therefore requires "intrinsic"/"non-intrinsic" analysis. A jury found defendant guilty of second-degree aggravated assault and four other offenses, arising out of the stabbing of a Hispanic man. Defendant asserts the trial judge erred by failing to 

suppress, appropriately sanitize, or properly instruct the  jury on the evidence concerning an encounter with the police that occurred three months after the stabbing, in which defendant revealed himself as a loud, aggressive, and foul-mouthed drunk, who made a single anti-Hispanic comment referencing the victim. We reverse and remand for a new trial, concluding the trial court mistakenly exercised its discretion when it admitted the bulk of the evidence concerning the prior encounter, without appropriate "sanitization" or jury instructions. In a companion case, we affirm the trial court's denial of a suppression motion and resulting conviction of weapons offenses.