Opinion ID: 557354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Regarding Sammy Zuluago

Text: 13 Appellant also contends that the district court should not have permitted the government to introduce evidence that Sammy Zuluago entered a drug transaction two months after Gomez's arrest. Although this evidence concerned an event which occurred after the arrest, this circuit has held that evidence inextricably intertwined with the chain of events surrounding the crime charged is admissible. United States v. Williford, 764 F.2d 1493, 1499 (11th Cir.1985). Gomez was charged with importing and conspiracy to import cocaine. Sammy Zuluago's phone number was listed in a book found in Gomez's car at the time of the arrest, and Jorge Restrepo testified that he discussed Zuluago's drug activity with Gomez. The government presented as a witness the police officer who arrested Zuluago. The officer testified that he found a mobile phone in the car and that the phone number to that phone matched the number listed in Gomez's address book. In this context, such evidence was relevant to the scheme and chain of events surrounding the charged importation conspiracy, and it was not an abuse of discretion to admit such evidence. See United States v. Killian, 639 F.2d 206, 211 (5th Cir. Unit A March 1981) (admission of evidence seized after defendant's arrest admissible), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1021, 101 S.Ct. 3014, 69 L.Ed.2d 394 (1981). 14