Because evidence of other acts submitted for a proper purpose may at the same time lead the jury to infer bad character and employ propensity reasoning, the trial court must, if requested by the defendant, instruct the jury to focus only on the proper purpose of the evidence. State v. Oldson, 293 Neb. 718, 884 N.W.2d 10 (2016).
While the giving of a limiting instruction is mandatory when requested, it is within the trial court's discretion whether to give a limiting instruction contemporaneously with the testimony or in the general instructions to the jury. State v. Ryan, 233 Neb. 74, 444 N.W.2d 610 (1989).