Opinion ID: 1426895
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the letter referencing the Crips

Text: Banks contends next that a letter containing two references to the Crips was improperly admitted. This claim lacks merit. In the letter, Banks asks a witness to his drug offenses to not testify against him and offers to take care of the witness and his father if the witness complies with this request. The letter twice uses the word crip, the name of a widely recognized gang. The person who received this letter construed the letter as a threat. [3] While we recognize that evidence of gang membership carries great potential for prejudice, United States v. Bradford, 246 F.3d 1107, 1117 (8th Cir.2001) (per curiam), overruled in part on other grounds by United States v. Diaz, 296 F.3d 680, 684-85 (8th Cir.2002) (en banc), the two gang references in the letter were fleeting, their import was somewhat vague, and they were neither adverted to again nor emphasized by the government. In these circumstances, the likelihood of undue prejudice was remote. [4]