Text of Pending Amendments For 2006

The text of the four amendments transmitted originally by the U.S. Judicial Conference to the U.S. Supreme Court and in April 2006 to Congress, concerning FRE 404(a) (Character Evidence Generally), FRE 408 (Compromise and Offers to Compromise), FRE 606(b) (Competency of Juror as Witness: Inquiry Into Validity of Verdict or Indictment), FRE 609 (Impeachment by Evidence of Conviction of Crime), is noted below:

Amendment Language
strike out indicates deletion; underline indicates insertion

Rule 404 Character Evidence Not Admissible To Prove Conduct; Exceptions; Other Crimes

(a) Character evidence generally. --Evidence of a person's character or a trait of character is not admissible for the purpose of proving action in conformity therewith on a particular occasion, except:

(1) Character of accused.--Evidence In a criminal case, evidence of a pertinent trait of character offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same, or if evidence of a trait of character of the alleged victim of the crime is offered by an accused and admitted under Rule 404(a)(2), evidence of the same trait of character of the accused offered by the prosecution;

(2) Character of alleged victim.--Evidence In a criminal case, and subject to the limitations imposed by Rule 412, evidence of a pertinent trait of character of the alleged victim of the crime offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same, or evidence of a character trait of peacefulness of the alleged victim offered by the prosecution in a homicide case to rebut evidence that the alleged victim was the first aggressor;

(3) Character of witness.--Evidence of the character of a witness, as provided in rules 607, 608, and 609.

Rule 408 Compromise and Offers to Compromise

(a) Prohibited uses. Evidence of the following is not admissible on behalf of any party, when offered to prove liability for, invalidity of, or amount of a claim that was disputed as to validity or amount, or to impeach through a prior inconsistent statement or contradiction:

(1) furnishing or offering or promising to furnish, or (2) accepting or offering or promising to accept, a valuable consideration in compromising or attempting to compromise athe claim, and which was disputed as to either validity or amount, is not admissible to prove liability for or invalidity of the claim or its amount. Evidence of

(2) conduct or statements made in compromise negotiations regarding the claim, except when offered in a criminal case and the negotiations related to a claim by a public office or agency in the exercise of regulatory, investigative, or enforcement authority. is likewise not admissible. This rule does not require the exclusion of any evidence otherwise discoverable merely because it is presented in the course of compromise negotiations.

(b) Permitted uses. This rule also does not require exclusion when if the evidence is offered for purposes not prohibited by subdivision (a). Examples of permissible purposes include another purpose, such as proving a witness's bias or prejudice; negating of a witness, negativing a contention of undue delay, or; and proving an effort to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution.
Rule 606 Competency of Juror as Witness (b) Inquiry Into Validity of Verdict or Indictment. Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning the juror's mental processes in connection therewith,. except that But a juror may testify on the question about (1) whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror, or (3) whether there was a mistake in entering the verdict onto the verdict form. Nor may a A juror's affidavit or evidence of any statement by the juror concerning may not be received on a matter about which the juror would be precluded from testifying be received for these purposes.

Rule 609 Impeachment by Evidence of Conviction of Crime

(a) General rule. For the purpose of attacking the credibility character for truthfulness of a witness,

(1) evidence that a witness other than an accused has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted, subject to Rule 403, if the crime was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the law under which the witness was convicted, and evidence that an accused has been convicted of such a crime shall be admitted if the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to the accused; and

(2) evidence that any witness has been convicted of a crime that readily can be determined to have been a crime of dishonesty or false statement shall be admitted if it involved dishonesty or false statement, regardless of the punishment.

Federal Rules of Evidence PDF