Rule 403 Excluding Relevant Evidence for Prejudice, Confusion, or Other Reasons

Even if evidence is relevant to a case, a judge can still decide to keep it out of court. This happens when showing the evidence would cause more harm than good.

A judge might block evidence if it would unfairly turn the jury against someone, confuse the jury about what the case is really about, or waste time by repeating information the jury has already heard. The key word is "substantially." The risk of harm has to clearly outweigh the value of the evidence before a judge will throw it out.