Opinion ID: 393800
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sexual Behavior

Text: 57 Lynch has tried to make more of this evidence than the record justifies. He states in his brief: 58 Mr. Lynch's image as a bad man who must be guilty of the crimes with which he was charged was darkened ... by references and allusions to him depicting him as one who enjoyed the sexual favors of many women. These peppered the prosecution's case. The resulting image of depravity was enlarged by the fact that his wife sat with him in the dock, a fellow defendant, a constant reminder that Mr. Lynch was a married man. There was testimony in abundance indicating that this, that or another woman was Mr. Lynch's girlfriend or mistress. 59 Brief of Carl Lynch at 14-15. Lynch then sets out fifteen references to the record where, given his argument, one would reasonably expect to find testimony of sexual liaisons elicited by the Government. An examination of the record reveals nothing of the sort. Most of the references are similar to that set forth in the margin. 17 We do not construe such testimony to be character evidence. It requires no discussion of Rules 403 and 404(b). In addition, in all but one of the instances of allegedly objectionable testimony there is no objection in the record claiming that the evidence is inadmissible character evidence. The one objection followed the testimony set forth in the margin. 18 60 Many of the portions of the record cited by Lynch to support his argument that he was painted as a bad man because of his promiscuity came in response to questions by Lynch's codefendants, and not the Government. This is not to say that testimony elicited by a codefendant cannot be prejudicial. But it does undercut Lynch's argument that reversible error resulted from the Government's failure to argue the relevance of the evidence of sexual relationships to the jury. Under the circumstances of this case we do not find that the evidence adduced at trial that tended to show that Carl Lynch had girlfriends other than his wife requires a consideration of the admissibility of that evidence under Federal Rules of Evidence 403 and 404(b).