Opinion ID: 196452
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Harris' Testimony on Bartelho's Death Threats

Text: 43 Lastly, Bartelho challenges the district court's decision to allow Harris to testify that Bartelho had threatened to kill her. On relevance grounds, Bartelho objected to the government's questioning of Harris on redirect regarding whether Bartelho had threatened to kill her, but the court allowed the testimony. Citing Federal Rule of Evidence 403, 2 Bartelho argues that although the death threat may have been relevant as to motive, such testimony was highly inflammatory and prejudicial. He contends that this testimony thereby increased the likelihood of a conviction based on emotion rather than facts, thus denying him of a fair trial. 44 The balancing of probative value against prejudicial impact under Rule 403 will not be disturbed on appeal as long as the trial court does not stray entirely beyond the pale. United States v. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d 153, 156 (1st Cir.1989) (quoting United States v. Tierney, 760 F.2d 382, 388 (1st Cir.1985)). We review the trial court's ruling only for abuse of discretion, see Tierney, 760 F.2d at 388, bearing in mind that the limitations of Rule 403 are to be rarely invoked. United States v. Zeuli, 725 F.2d 813, 816 (1st Cir.1984). 45 We uphold the district court's decision to allow the testimony. Harris was the only government witness who could testify that Bartelho actually had physical possession of the weapon. In fact, before trial she had so testified, and had been recorded on tape. However, at trial she denied that Bartelho had had a gun. Given that she was the best witness to one of the elements of the crime of felon-in-possession, evidence that Bartelho had previously threatened her life was highly relevant to the jury's decision whether to credit her taped version of the facts or her conflicting trial testimony. Furthermore, only the fact that Harris told others about the threats was elicited; there were no sensational details. Thus, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence of the threats. 46 For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.