Opinion ID: 2997059
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Prior Bad Act Evidence Under

Text: F.R.E. 404(b) Defendant Contreras challenges the decision of the district court to admit the testimony of Officer Vasquez concerning two prior drug sales which occurred in 1992 as dissimilar and too remote in time. We review a district court’s decision to admit evidence pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence for abuse of discretion. United States v. Anifowoshe, 307 F.3d 643, 646 (7th Cir. 2002). Rule 404(b) prohibits the use of a defendant’s prior bad acts as propensity evidence while permitting its use to prove “motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.” Fed. R. Evid. 404(b). We have long recognized that the permissible use of prior bad act evidence to prove intent or lack of mistake may have the potential impermissible side effect of allowing the jury to infer criminal propensity. See United States v. Beasley, 809 F.2d 1273, 1278 (7th Cir. 1987) (“When the same evidence has legitimate and forbidden uses, when the introduction is valuable yet dangerous, the district judge has great discretion.”). To address these twin concerns, we have reasoned that evidence is properly admitted if the government is able to show that: Nos. 02-3563, 02-3564 & 02-3842 17 (1) the evidence is directed toward establishing a matter in issue other than the defendant’s propensity to commit the crime charged, (2) the evidence shows that the other act is similar enough and close in time to be relevant to the matter in issue, (3) the evidence is sufficient to support a jury finding that the defendant committed the similar act, and (4) the probative value of the evidence is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. United States v. Wash, 231 F.3d 366, 370 (7th Cir. 2000) (quoting United States v. Wilson, 31 F.3d 510, 514-15 (7th Cir. 1994)). Furthermore, when a defendant is charged with a specific intent crime, such as possession with intent to distribute, we have reasoned that evidence of past action is probative if used to establish an essential element of the crime charged. Id.; United States v. Long, 86 F.3d 81, 84 (7th Cir. 1996). Though this is a close case, we cannot find that the district court abused its discretion by admitting the testimony of Officer Vasquez. Contreras correctly points out that there is a nine-year gap between the 1992 drug sales and the 2001 charges. While we acknowledge that nine years is a substantial amount of time, the temporal proximity of the prior acts to the current charge is not alone determinative of admissibility. See United States v. Wimberly, 60 F.3d 281, 285 (7th Cir. 1995) (admitting prior bad act evidence that occurred thirteen years prior to charge when evidence was highly reliable and relevant to credibility); United States v. Mounts, 35 F.3d 1208, 1214 (7th Cir. 1994) (permitting admission of drug purchase which occurred seven years prior to arrest to prove element of intent). Defendant’s argument that the events are not sufficiently similar because the 1992 transaction involved cocaine while his current conviction involves methamphetamine is also unsupported by this circuit’s precedent. The similarity 18 Nos. 02-3563, 02-3564 & 02-3842 inquiry focuses on the purpose for which evidence is offered. Long, 86 F.3d at 84. The 1992 cocaine sales were offered to prove Contreras’s intent to possess distribution amounts of illicit drugs. See United States v. Hernandez, 84 F.3d 931, 935 (7th Cir. 1996) (finding sufficient similarity when different drugs are at issue because both instances involved “distribution amounts of drugs and illicit transport”); Wash, 231 F.3d at 370 (finding sufficient similarity when prior bad acts and current charge both involve “possessing distribution amounts of drugs”). The evidence submitted by Officer Vasquez was un- questionably reliable. The record also reveals the district court’s thorough discussion of Contreras’s theory of the case, i.e., that he lacked the intent to enter into a conspiracy to import or possess methamphetamine or the knowledge that one existed and was simply present at the airport that day by happenstance. (During closing arguments his attorney went so far as to call him a “dupe” or fall guy.) This theory coupled with the government’s need to prove an essential element of the case, i.e., that the defendant acted with the requisite specific intent, supports the district court’s decision to admit the prior bad acts. Further, any prejudicial effect on the defendant was lessened by the trial court’s limiting instruction that the evidence was solely to be used to evaluate the issue of intent. See United States v. Tringali, 71 F.3d 1375, 1379 (7th Cir. 1995). Finally, were we to err on the side of caution and deem this testimony’s admission in error, it would undoubtedly be harmless as the weight of the evidence against Contreras was overwhelming. See United States v. Coleman, 179 F.3d 1056, 1062 (7th Cir. 1999).