Opinion ID: 200903
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: False Tax Return

Text: 31 The government established that Balthazard purchased and made $58,000 in payments on a 37-foot custom-designed motor boat in 1998 while reporting limited income on his tax returns for the years leading up to the purchase. Balthazard's accountant also testified that he prepared a false tax return for Balthazard that he used to obtain a loan for the boat purchase. Balthazard argues that the trial court should have excluded evidence of the false tax return. 32 The false return had no connection to Balthazard's drug dealing and it added nothing to the government's attempt to show that Balthazard had earnings that exceeded his legitimate income. Because the government has not identified any other reason why the false tax return evidence was relevant, we agree that the court should have excluded the false return. 33 The government nevertheless argues that the admission of the false tax return evidence was harmless. When the government makes such a claim, it must demonstrate that it is highly probable that the court's erroneous ruling played no role in the conviction. See United States v. Meserve, 271 F.3d 314, 329 (1st Cir.2001). While there is always some risk that a jury could be prejudiced by hearing evidence that a defendant has engaged in uncharged misconduct, the evidence of Balthazard's guilt is so strong that evidence suggesting that he also was involved in another unrelated and less serious criminal scheme was inconsequential. Accordingly, we reject Balthazard's claim because the court's error in refusing to exclude the false tax return evidence was harmless.