Opinion ID: 2978939
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Drug-Related Violence Evidence

Text: Logan next objects to the introduction of police testimony regarding significant drug violence in Madisonville and the reference to Mitchell’s “hit list” as irrelevant and prejudicial. We review the district court’s evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. Henley, 360 F.3d at 518. Over defense counsel’s objections, the jury heard testimony that Madisonville has a significant drug-violence problem and that a document titled “A.J.’s Hit List” was found in Mitchell’s bedroom. The district court allowed the former, finding it relevant to why Logan would have a gun and drugs worth thousands of dollars. It allowed the latter, because it was relevant to showing that the bedroom was Mitchell’s. The district court did not abuse its discretion. See Fed. R. Evid. 401. Brief testimony about drug violence in Madisonville was relevant to determining whether Logan was guilty of the § 924(c) charge. The “hit list” was relevant to show that the bedroom was Mitchell’s, and to prove where the gun, drugs, and money were found. Likewise, the district court did not abuse its discretion by overruling Logan’s Federal Rule of Evidence 403 objection. Logan maintains that the evidence should have been excluded pursuant 4 The imposition of a special assessment on each count prevents us from bypassing Logan’s claims under the concurrent sentence doctrine. Ray v. United States, 481 U.S. 736, 737 (1987) (per curiam). -7- Nos. 07-6126, 09-5636 United States v. Logan to Rule 403, because, taken together, it “steered the jury to making its decision ‘on an improper basis,’” i.e., that Logan was a violent person who must have committed the crimes charged. The jury could not have reached such a conclusion given that the officer testified that violence in the area and, in particular, a shooting in Madisonville had nothing to do with Logan’s case. With regard to the hit list, the officer testified that it was not a list of women Mitchell wanted to kill, but rather a list of his sexual conquests. Although the probative value of the “hit list” was arguably low, so was its undue prejudice as to Logan.