Opinion ID: 596519
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hill Letter

Text: 6 Waldrip filed a pre-trial motion to suppress evidence of a separate transaction in which she signed Accountant Steve Hill's name to a letter that was subsequently sent to investors. The district court elected to carry the motion as a motion in limine. At trial, Waldrip elected to testify in her own behalf. The government was allowed to use the Hill letter in cross-examining Waldrip pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 608(b) as a matter affecting her character for truthfulness. 2 7 By testifying, Waldrip put her character for truthfulness in issue. United States v. Williams, 822 F.2d 512, 516 (5th Cir.1987). Control over the conduct of a trial, including the scope of permissible cross-examination, is squarely within the discretionary powers of the district court, and its rulings will be disturbed on review only if the district court abuses that discretion. Id., citing United States v. Viera, 819 F.2d 498, 500 (5th Cir.1987). The district court may under Rule 608(b) 3 determine if evidence is probative of truthfulness, and under Rule 403 exclude even probative evidence if the prejudicial effect outweighs the probative value. United States v. Farias-Farias, 925 F.2d 805, 809 (5th Cir.1991). 4 8 Waldrip contends that the district court abused its discretion in admitting the letter because, even if a forgery, it is not probative of her character for truthfulness. However, forgery has been held to be probative evidence of a witnesses' character for truthfulness. United States v. Leake, 642 F.2d 715 (4th Cir.1981). In Leake, the court stated Rule 608 authorizes inquiry only into instances of misconduct that are clearly probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness, such as perjury, fraud, swindling, forgery, bribery, and embezzlement. Id. at 718-719 (emphasis added). We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it allowed the government to cross-examine Waldrip concerning the letter because such misconduct was probative of Waldrip's character for truthfulness. 5 9 Waldrip also argues that the probative value of the Hill letter is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect and is, therefore, inadmissible under Rule 403. She asserts that this prior conduct was so similar to the transaction for which she was charged that the jury could easily infer that she was a forger in general. This court has stated in United States v. Beechum, 582 F.2d 898 (5th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 920, 99 S.Ct. 1244, 59 L.Ed.2d 472 (1979): 10 It is true as well that the more closely the extrinsic offense resembles the charged offense, the greater the prejudice to the defendant. The likelihood that the jury will convict the defendant because he is the kind of person who commits this particular type of crime or because he was not punished for the extrinsic offense increases with the increasing likeness of the offenses. Id. at 915 n. 20. 11 We agree with Waldrip that the conduct is very similar to the conduct for which she was on trial. Here, however, even if the prejudicial effect substantially outweighed the extrinsic act's probative value, any error in admitting it was harmless, given the overwhelming evidence of guilt. 6