Opinion ID: 551278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the bpd regulations

Text: 18 The district court permitted proof of Devin's repeated abridgement of BPD regulations. Appellant claims that this evidence was inadmissible and that, in allowing it over contemporaneous objection, the court abused its discretion. The contention is premised more on hope than on reason.A. Non-Criminal Conduct. 19 Devin's gateway argument is meritless. He says, in effect, that the district court should never have looked to Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) when much of this evidence was proffered because the rule does not pertain to non-criminal conduct. Although appellant correctly classifies many of the regulatory breaches as falling into the non-criminal category, e.g., failing to utilize proper channels in arranging for private security details, the very language of the rule defeats the remainder of his argument. 6 20 Rule 404(b) allows evidence of crimes, wrongs, or acts to be introduced. This disjunctive terminology shows unmistakably that Rule 404(b) reaches conduct which is neither criminal nor unlawful so long as the conduct is probative of, and revelatory as to, a permitted purpose. See 2 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence p 404 at 404-57 (1990); see, e.g., United States v. Ingraham, 832 F.2d 229, 231-37 (1st Cir.1987) (in prosecution for making threatening telephone call, evidence of prior letters, not themselves criminal, admissible as relevant to identity), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1009, 108 S.Ct. 1738, 100 L.Ed.2d 202 (1988); United States v. Rodriguez, 831 F.2d 162, 168-69 (7th Cir.1987) (in prosecution for conspiracy, evidence that defendant and co-indictee were together during automobile accident admissible as relevant to knowledge, notwithstanding that [p]roof of an automobile accident is not proof of a prior crime), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 965, 108 S.Ct. 1234, 99 L.Ed.2d 433 (1988); United States v. Harrell, 737 F.2d 971, 978 (11th Cir.1984) (testimony on lifestyle and non-criminal practices of motorcycle club adherents admissible as relevant to motive and means of conspiracy), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1027, 105 S.Ct. 1392, 84 L.Ed.2d 781 (1985). The evidence admitted here was valuable in proving defendant's corrupt intent and knowledge, as well as in complet[ing] the story of [his] crime[s] by proving the immediate context of events near in time and place. United States v. Currier, 821 F.2d 52, 55 (1st Cir.1987). The fact that certain acts were not also crimes was not a ground for their automatic exclusion. 21 B. The Rule 404(b) Test. 22 This court favors a two step analysis to ascertain whether evidence of other acts should be admitted under Rule 404(b). First, nisi prius must determine whether the evidence has a special relevance and is offered not merely to show the defendant's propensity for crime but to establish some material issue. See United States v. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d 153, 155 (1st Cir.1989); United States v. Flores-Perez, 849 F.2d 1, 4-6 (1st Cir.1988); Ingraham, 832 F.2d at 231. If the trial court finds that the evidence is specially relevant, it must then balance probative value against the countervailing considerations enumerated in Rule 403 in order to gauge admissibility. 7 If the evidence brings unwanted baggage, say, unfair prejudice or a cognizable risk of confusing the jury, and if the baggage's weight substantially overbalances any probative value, then the evidence must be excluded. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 155; see also 22 C. Wright & K. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence Sec. 5221 at 309-10 (1978) (The phrasing of Rule 403 makes it clear that the discretion to exclude does not arise where the balance between the probative worth and the countervailing factors is debatable; there must be a significant tipping of the scales against the evidentiary worth of the proffered evidence.). We have repeatedly emphasized that such determinations are, within wide parameters, grist for the trial judge's mill. See United States v. De La Cruz, 902 F.2d 121, 124 (1st Cir.1990); Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 155; Ingraham, 832 F.2d at 231. Only rarely--and in extraordinarily compelling circumstances--will we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, reverse a district court's on-the-spot judgment concerning the relative weighing of probative value and unfair effect. Freeman v. Package Machinery Co., 865 F.2d 1331, 1340 (1st Cir.1988). 23 C. Special Relevancy. 24 Appellant claims that the challenged evidence was admitted solely to portray him as a bad cop and was irrelevant since he was on trial for infracting federal law rather than for breaking departmental rules. The court below disagreed, finding that the regulations, and defendant's blithe disregard of them, had special relevance to show knowledge and intent. 25 The court's conclusion seems invincible. After all, the predicate acts charged in the RICO count comprised, inter alia, violations of Mass.Gen.L. ch. 268A, Sec. 2(b). In order to obtain a bribery conviction under that statute, the prosecution must show a corrupt intent on the part of the defendant to be influenced in his future performance of an official act. United States v. Arruda, 715 F.2d 671, 681 (1st Cir.1983) (quoting Commonwealth v. Dutney, 4 Mass.App.Ct. 363, 375, 348 N.E.2d 812, 821 (1976)). By the same token, specific intent is part and parcel of a Hobbs Act conviction. Boylan, 898 F.2d at 253. 8 The disputed evidence went directly to these issues. If believed, it showed that the BPD had established rules which all employees were reasonably expected to know and to obey; that these rules were well-publicized; that they prohibited policemen from, among other things, (a) accepting gifts and gratuities from persons with whom they had official dealings, (b) revealing criminal records, (c) performing unauthorized security details, and (d) failing to report license violations; and that defendant, notwithstanding, flouted the rules. Such evidence was unquestionably helpful to the jury in determining whether, as Devin claimed, Gottlieb's payments were innocently given and gratefully received as tokens of amity; or whether, as the prosecution contended, Devin was willing to disregard his sworn obligations and accept things of value which influenced his performance of official duties. 26 In this case, of course, the uncharged acts were also relevant to depict the setting in which the charged racketeering and extortion took place. We have frequently allowed Rule 404(b) evidence to be used for such a purpose. See, e.g., United States v. Reveron-Martinez, 836 F.2d 684, 687-88 (1st Cir.1988) (details of uncharged acts admissible to show the chain of events forming the context). Put another way, other acts evidence which is closely bound up with the crimes charged is eligible for admissibility under Rule 404(b). See, e.g., Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 155-56; United States v. Fields, 871 F.2d 188, 193-94 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 369, 107 L.Ed.2d 355 (1989). In short, our decisions recognize that evidence of uncharged conduct may reasonably be needed to relate the complete story of the charged crimes. See Currier, 821 F.2d at 55; United States v. D'Alora, 585 F.2d 16, 20 (1st Cir.1978). It is hard to imagine a case where the totality of the circumstances surrounding a relationship would have been more valuable to a factfinder as a means of putting the discrete crimes for which defendant was indicted into proper perspective. 27 To dwell on the topic would serve no useful purpose. On these facts, the relevancy hurdle is an easy jump. 28 D. Prejudicial Effect. 29 Appellant's fall-back position is that, even if specially relevant, the regulations' probative value was heavily overbalanced by the risk of jury confusion about whether he was alleged to have violated federal law or constabulary regulations. The heart of appellant's claim is that the testimony about the BPD regulations was so extensive, and the details so sleazy, that the evidence could well have bewildered the jurors and prejudiced them against him. This asseveration cannot withstand testing in the Rule 403 crucible. While we do not doubt that the admission of the disputed evidence was prejudicial and helped to seal the defendant's fate, all evidence is meant to be prejudicial; it is only unfair prejudice which must be avoided. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d at 156; see also Ingraham, 832 F.2d at 233; Onujiogu v. United States, 817 F.2d 3, 6 (1st Cir.1987). There was no unfairness here. 30 For one thing, the probative value of the evidence was great. For another thing, the government did not attempt to saturate the record with the disputed material out of proportion to legitimate need. For a third thing, the lower court handled the matter with consummate care. The record shows that, more than once, the court sustained defendant's objections and blocked questioning that threatened to be cumulative or too near the line. In addition, the clarity of the court's charge was commendable: 31 [R]ules and regulations of the Boston Police Department were admitted into evidence in this case. And while they may be relevant in order to show a guideline or a code of conduct to a particular job, the defendant is not here because he violated a rule or regulation. He is charged here with violations of certain specific laws, not rules or regulations. 32 When all is said and done, the degree of possible (unfair) prejudice cannot conceivably be said to outweigh the evidence's probative worth. 9