Opinion ID: 701341
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony about a subsequent confrontation

Text: 12 Shedlock next argues that the district court erroneously admitted evidence of an incident between Shedlock and Planned Parenthood staff that occurred on September 15, 1994, twenty-nine days after Shedlock's confrontation with Deputy Palmer. The testimony about the September incident is summarized as follows. Around lunchtime on September 15, 1994, Shedlock and several other individuals were protesting at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Des Moines, Iowa. Two Planned Parenthood employees, the director of security and an unidentified female worker, were going out to lunch. The two got on a motorcycle. While they were stopped at an intersection, Shedlock startled them by running up to them and yelling at them. The district court, relying on Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), admitted this testimony to help demonstrate intent and lack of mistake. 13 Rule 404(b) contains several prerequisites to the introduction of other acts evidence. Like all other evidence, it must be relevant and not unduly prejudicial. Burk, 912 F.2d at 228. The other act must be sufficiently close in time and manner to the incident charged. Id. There must be sufficient evidence to support a jury finding that the defendant committed the other act. Id. Assuming these prerequisites are met, Rule 404(b) permits the introduction of the other act unless it tends to prove only the defendant's criminal disposition. Id. 14 Shedlock raises several challenges to the admission of the September incident under Rule 404(b). First, he contends that the September incident is irrelevant to his intent twenty-nine days earlier. We disagree. As a general rule, evidence of other acts committed by a defendant may be admitted to prove intent or absence of mistake. Intent is a required element of the crime of assaulting or interfering with a Deputy U.S. Marshal, and Shedlock's intent was a major issue at trial. We have previously permitted the admission of later acts to demonstrate a party's previously held intent. See, e.g., United States v. Johnson, 934 F.2d 936, 940 (8th Cir.1991) (in drug conspiracy case, court admitted later drug transactions to show intent). As in Johnson, Shedlock's behavior on September 15 helps show Shedlock's intent in his confrontation with Deputy Palmer. 15 Shedlock's prejudice argument is similarly unsuccessful. Shedlock contends that introduction of the September incident caused him to be portrayed as an out-of-control traffic menace posing a danger to the general public. We are aware that traffic menaces are often disliked. Nonetheless, we find that the prejudice, if any, did not so outweigh the probative value of the evidence so as to bar its admission. 16 Shedlock next argues that because he frequently engaged in confrontations at the Planned Parenthood clinic, not all confrontations qualify as an appropriate basis for comparison. Under his theory, acts that occur frequently require a higher level of similarity before they can truly serve as comparable acts. Shedlock reasons that because the alleged confrontation on September 15 involved Planned Parenthood employees, rather than a Deputy Marshal, the two confrontations are insufficiently similar. We reject this theory, and with it, Shedlock's attempt to require a perfect match between the two incidents. Even if heightened similarity is required, however, the two confrontations are amazingly similar. The September 15 confrontation involved Shedlock, a Planned Parenthood security officer, and the security officer's vehicle (a motorcycle). The August 17 confrontation involved Shedlock, a Government security officer, and the security officer's vehicle (a car). Absent another confrontation with a Deputy U.S. Marshal, it is hard to imagine two more similar incidents. 17 Finally, Shedlock contends that the September 15 confrontation was too remote in time to affect his intent on August 17. We have previously considered whether a particular number of years between incidents causes an incident to be considered too remote in time. Burk, 912 F.2d at 228. No hard and fast rule governs. Rather, we undertake a reasonableness inquiry, reviewing the particular facts and circumstances at issue. Id. In the instant case, less than a month separates the two incidents. Although there may be instances when a day is like a year, or even a thousand years, Shedlock has not demonstrated that the twenty-nine day lapse makes any particular difference here. The district court correctly permitted this testimony.