Opinion ID: 1322793
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Attack on Amy Hill

Text: Next, Clark argues that the district court erred in allowing the government to present evidence of the beating of Hill by Bennett and Kelly. Clark argues that the evidence is irrelevant, and that despite the district court's (and the prosecutor's) repeated statements to the jury that neither Clark nor Valtierra were involved in the beating, the evidence unfairly prejudiced him. The government contends that the evidence was properly limited to provide context to the recordings of Clark's telephone calls from prison that related to the beatings and discussed various co-conspirators and the chain of events resulting in their arrests. At one point during Hill's testimony, it was revealed that Bennett and Kelly had ground cigarettes out on her. Clark objected and moved for a mistrial, claiming the evidence was inflammatory and prejudicial. The district court denied the motion. We review the district court's evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Samuels, 521 F.3d 804, 813 (7th Cir.2008). We accord great deference to the district court judge's determination, and we will second-guess that judgment only in extreme cases. Id.; see United States v. Strong, 485 F.3d 985, 991 (7th Cir.2007). The district court did not err in admitting the evidence of the attack on Hill or in denying Clark's mistrial motion. The district court and the government went to great lengths to limit the evidence of the attack on Hill to only that which was needed to provide context for the recorded conversations between Clark and other co-conspirators. Context for those conversations was necessary because the recordings illustrated Clark's drug relationships with Green, Hill, and Quincy, and to rebut his patsy defense that he was oblivious to the cocaine distribution network. Accordingly, the entire phone conversations discussing the attack on Hill were properly admitted, and the appropriate limiting instruction was given. See United States v. Burton, 937 F.2d 324, 327-28 (7th Cir. 1991). Although there may be a question as to one detail of the attack (that Hill was burned with cigarette butts), Clark's trial counsel, the prosecutor, and the district court judge repeatedly admonished the jurors that the evidence of Hill's beating was to be used solely to put Clark's statements in context and that Clark was in no way responsible for the attack. As such, we cannot conclude that Clark was prejudiced by the evidence of the attack, thus any potential error resulting from the jury hearing about the cigarette burns was harmless. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a); United States v. Lee, 502 F.3d 691, 696 (7th Cir.2007) (noting that even if the district court erred in admitting evidence, we will not reverse if the error was harmless).