Greg Evans (aka Gregorious Evangelatos) v The Queen

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by Greg Evans (also known as Gregorious Evangelatos) against his conviction for murder. The central dispute concerned the admissibility of certain evidence during his trial.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge had erred in admitting evidence of the appellant's prior convictions and prior bad character, which had been admitted under s 101 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW). The appellant argued that this evidence was unfairly prejudicial and should have been excluded.

Gummow and Heydon JJ held that the admission of the evidence was an error. Their Honours explained that while s 101 permits the admission of evidence of a person's prior convictions or bad character if it is relevant to a fact in issue, the court must still consider whether the probative value of the evidence is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. In this instance, the evidence of prior convictions was not sufficiently probative of any fact in issue in the murder charge, and its admission carried a significant risk of the jury improperly using it to infer guilt. The High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, and ordered a new trial.