Rule 402 Relevant Evidence Generally Admissible; Irrelevant Evidence Inadmissible

Evidence must be related to the case to be used in court. If a piece of evidence has nothing to do with the facts being decided, a judge will not allow it.

This protects everyone in a case from having unrelated information brought up that could confuse or mislead the jury. For example, if you are in a car accident lawsuit, evidence about something completely unrelated to the crash would not be allowed.

There are some exceptions where even relevant evidence can be kept out of court, but those are covered by other specific rules.