law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, the doctrine of chances is a rule of evidence that allows evidence to show that it is unlikely a defendant would be repeatedly, innocently involved in similar, suspicious circumstances. Normally, under

Federal Rule of Evidence First adopted in 1975, the Federal Rules of Evidence codify the evidence law that applies in United States federal courts. In addition, many states in the United States have either adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence, with or without local v ...

404, evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. Using the doctrine of chances allows a prosecutor to admit evidence of prior "accidents" that can persuade a jury that prior incidents are so similar that it is very improbable that the case at bar is actually accidental. The doctrine of chances was first developed by English courts in the case '' Rex v. Smith'', 11 Cr. App. R. 229, 84 L.J.K.B. 2153 (1915), better known as the "brides in the bath murder". In this case the defendant was accused of murdering his wife by drowning her in a bath. The defendant claimed that his wife had fainted in the bath. The prosecutor sought to include evidence in the trial that the defendant's two previous wives had both died in the same way. The evidence was allowed.

References

United States v. Tyndale
56 M.J. 209, 213 (C.A.A.F. 2001)

{{law-term-stub Evidence law Legal doctrines and principles