Opinion ID: 610597
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Acts

Text: 8 A detective with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in Florida testified that in February of 1990 he stopped Taylor's vehicle in Florida and searched it with Taylor's consent and found over $350,000 in Taylor's car. A deputy with the Chambers County Sheriff's Office in Texas testified that in May of 1990 he stopped Taylor and his father outside of Beaumont, Texas and found approximately $26,000 as well as a pound and a quarter of cocaine in the vehicle. The court admitted this evidence pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) to prove motive, opportunity, intent, or preparation. Taylor contends this was error because the evidence was more prejudicial than probative in violation of Rule 403. 9 Our thorough review of the record reveals that Taylor did not make a Rule 403 objection to the evidence. We are therefore limited to the plain error standard of review. United States v. Blankenship, 746 F.2d 233, 238 (5th Cir.1984); see United States v. Arteaga-Limones, 529 F.2d 1183, 1198-99 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 920, 97 S.Ct. 315, 50 L.Ed.2d 286 (1976). 10 Taylor's cocaine conspiracy transferred cocaine between Louisiana and Florida by car and airplane, and the amounts of money involved reached the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. The money and cocaine found during Taylor's prior stops and searches in Florida and Texas strongly indicate motive and intent to carry drugs and money interstate. The probative value of this evidence was not outweighed by its prejudicial impact, if any. We therefore conclude that the court did not clearly err in admitting the evidence.