This case presents the question this Court acknowledged was "left open" in Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 75, fn. 5 (1991): "whether a state law would violate the Due Process Clause if it permitted the use of 'prior crimes' evidence [in this case domestic violence evidence] to show propensity to commit a charged crime."

Whether the admission of prior acts of domestic violence to establish the petitioner's propensity to commit such crimes violated his right to due process