Opinion ID: 790007
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: dog alert

Text: 55 In its rebuttal, the government offered evidence that Banks's Jeep was inspected by a narcotics-trained dog and that the dog alerted to the driver's seat of the vehicle. The district court conducted a hearing and voir dire of the dog's handler, and initially allowed the evidence to be presented to the jury. After the dog handler's testimony, though, and after court had been adjourned for a weekend, the district court decided to strike the evidence. Banks claims that the district court's error of allowing the evidence to be presented prejudiced him, and that the subsequent jury instructions to disregard the dog handler's testimony were insufficient. 56 Banks offers nothing to show how the weekend lapse between the introduction of the dog alert evidence and the instructions to disregard that evidence was prejudicial to him. We find it implausible that the jury considered this testimony in convicting Banks of possessing the cocaine found in April's apartment. On the contrary, it appears that the jury was able to put the testimony out of their minds, since they acquitted Banks of the charge of selling cocaine to Jackson the night of the dog inspection. See Smith, 308 F.3d at 739-740.