Opinion ID: 2975781
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony regarding the “Fourth Street sign”

Text: The district court did not err in permitting Officer Fegan to testify during his crossexamination and re-direct regarding the meaning of a hand symbol Lofton displayed in a photograph. Lofton argues that this testimony was both unfairly prejudicial under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 and inadmissible under Rule 404(b) as “simply testimony that Lofton is a bad person who makes hand signals made similar to those made by other bad people.” Lofton Br. at 27. - 17 - Nos. 06-5810, 06-5811 United States v. Lofton and Black Lofton’s Rule 404(b) argument is misplaced. The purpose of Officer Fegan’s testimony was not, as Lofton argues, to present Lofton as a person of poor character. Indeed, the photograph at issue was not even introduced by the Government, but rather was introduced and inquired into by defense counsel on cross-examination after counsel’s attempts to erode the reliability of Officer Fegan’s identification of Lofton in the June 22 surveillance photographs. Nor was Officer Fegan’s narrow and limited elaboration during re-direct on the meaning of Lofton’s “Fourth Street” signal offered for the purpose of illustrating Lofton’s character. Defense counsel’s strategy throughout the cross-examination was to suggest that Officer Fegan was mistaken about Lofton’s identity and otherwise careless about his investigation. Defense counsel’s more global trial strategy was to distance Lofton from connections with the drug trafficking area by Plum Street and the Dutch Inn. The purpose and probative value of Officer Fegan’s testimony on re-direct regarding the meaning of the Fourth Street sign and its association with local drug trafficking was to establish that he was indeed knowledgeable about both Lofton and the drug trafficking that occurred in the area – issues defense counsel raised by their chosen cross-examination strategy. The fact that Officer Fegan’s testimony connected Lofton to the Fourth Street area and other drug traffickers cannot be considered unfair prejudice, particularly given that other testimony already established his extensive connections to the area and to Black. Accordingly, Lofton’s arguments under Rules 404(b) and 403 fail.