People v. Ward

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of criminal sexual assault. Court allowed an alleged victim of sexual assault by Defendant, from incident of four years earlier, testify at trial, but refused to allow jury to learn that Defendant had been acquitted in that case. Acquittal evidence was admissible under Section 115-7.3 of Code of Criminal Procedure, as "evidence to rebut" proof of offense or inference from proof. Without knowledge of acquittal, jury was not able to evaluate the other-crimes evidence fully, and Defendant was unduly prejudiced by inability to convey a complete context for earlier alleged victim's highly inflammatory allegations. (FREEMAN, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring.)