I recently defended in a trial involving the consideration of bad and good character evidence. The defendant had been convicted of fraud on a previous occasion but wanted to bring evidence of good character in a trial where he was accused of violence. A similar situation was considered in the appeal of O’Donnell [2024] EWCA Crim 1115 13th September 2024.

In the case of O’Donnell, a violent altercation broke out between members of two families at a boxing match in February 2020. The incident involved over 50 members of the opposing families and the violence included the use of weapons.

The appellant, Anthony Terence O'Donnell, was convicted of violent disorder and sentenced to two years and eight months' imprisonment. The evidence included CCTV footage showing O'Donnell's involvement in the disorder, including throwing chairs and directing others. O'Donnell argued that he was acting in self-defence and defence of another.

At trial, O’Donnell wanted to call two character witnesses to demonstrate his lack of propensity for violence. The prosecution argued that O’Donnell’s previous conviction for fraud meant he was not of good character and the character evidence should be ruled inadmissible. The judge agreed.

On appeal, it was decided that the judge erred in acceding to the prosecution submission. The appellant was not presenting himself as someone of good character. He was entitled to present his case on the basis that he had never been convicted of violence and did not have a propensity to violence. He wanted to present his unaggressive nature as part of persuading the jury that any violence he used was lawful. The character evidence did not add much to the appellant’s own evidence on this point, but they gave first hand evidence of how the appellant had not reacted in situations where others might have displayed aggression. The jury could have regarded it as independent evidence of the appellant’s submission that he was not a violent individual. However, in the circumstances of the case, the refusal to admit the evidence did not render the conviction unsafe. The court also dealt with sentencing category and whether the sentence was manifestly excessive. The appeal was dismissed on all three points.

This case highlights significant issues concerning the admissibility of character evidence in criminal proceedings, particularly where a defendant acknowledges previous bad character but wishes to make a submission about a different type of offending.