Opinion ID: 778756
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Evidence Regarding the Baku Incident

Text: 32 In addition to evidence directly linked to the conspiracy, the government presented evidence that in October 1996, Azerbaijani Customs stopped Aleskerova at an airport in Baku and discovered that she was carrying other stolen artwork (the Baku Incident). Because the admission of this evidence is hotly contested on appeal, we account for it in some detail. 33 In a pretrial proffer letter, the government first stated its intention to present evidence pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) that items found in Aleskerova's suitcase during the Baku Incident had been stolen from the Azerbaijan State Theater Museum in Baku (the Theater Museum). Overruling a defense motion in limine to exclude this evidence, the district court held that removing items previously stolen from a museum from the country was sufficiently similar to the charged acts as to be probative of the defendant's intent and plan to receive, possess, and conceal stolen art works from the museums. 34 At trial, the government presented the testimony of Mekhti Magaramov, the deputy director of the Azerbaijan Customs Department, and Zarifa Melikova, an assistant director of the Theater Museum. Magaramov testified that he stopped Aleskerova at the airport because she appeared to be in a hurry to pass customs control. He found a large quantity of... theatrical posters, a few dolls, paintings, [and] books in her suitcase under her personal items. Because Aleskerova had failed to comply with the Azerbaijani customs law requiring passengers to declare historical and art valuables, Magaramov seized them. Aleskerova claimed that none of the items had historical value. 35 In a written statement to Azerbaijani Customs, Aleskerova admitted to having posters, magazines, and dolls which represent the full spectrum of Azerbaijani life. She claimed that she was taking the items to London to defend her doctoral thesis and to put them in an exhibition. At trial, Aleskerova's friend Yelena Frovola testified that the defendant was writing a book on posters from the 1930s and 1940s but that she was not enrolled in a formal doctoral program and did not have an exhibit planned in London. 36 On November 14, 1996, Melikova inspected the items seized during the Baku Incident. She found that the following seven items bore the stamp and inventory numbers of the Theater Museum (Theater Museum items): two commendation letters that were bound in leather or leather-like material, the frames of two dolls, two sketches relating to a Eugene O'Neil production, and one edition of a magazine called The Theater. These items were contained in the Theater Museum's inventory list, but were missing despite the security procedures to safeguard the collection. 37 In addition to the Theater Museum items, Azerbaijani Customs found other art-related items in Aleskerova's suitcase, including over 200 posters and two paintings by artist Azim Azim-Zade (the Azim-Zade paintings). The government conceded that it could not prove that these other items were stolen. Although the district court held that evidence of these other items would not be admitted as similar bad act evidence under Rule 404(b), it admitted the evidence as probative of Aleskerova's knowledge of fine art and as a customs violation. 38 On appeal, Aleskerova does not dispute that where, as here, the defendant denies wrongdoing, evidence of other similar crimes is admissible under Rule 404(b) to prove the defendant's intent to participate in the conspiracy. See United States v. Teague, 93 F.3d 81, 84 (2d Cir.1996). Instead, Aleskerova contends that the trial court erred by admitting the Theater Museum items under Rule 404(b) because the government failed to prove that they had been stolen. She also argues that the prosecutor misled the jury during his summation by suggesting that the other items found on Aleskerova were stolen. 39 In deciding whether the district court erred in admitting evidence regarding the Theater Museum items under Rule 404(b), we must first determine the applicable standard of review. The defendant concedes that she never objected at trial to their admission. She argues, however, that her in limine motion preserved her objection to the admission of the 404(b) evidence because the district court failed to explicitly state that its pretrial ruling was subject to reconsideration at trial if the government failed to present sufficient evidence that the items were stolen. We disagree. 40 In Huddleston v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 108 S.Ct. 1496, 99 L.Ed.2d 771 (1988), the Supreme Court described the role of the trial court in admitting evidence pursuant to Rule 404(b). The trial judge must instruct the jury to disregard such evidence if the proponent fails to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the similar bad act occurred and was committed by the defendant. See id. at 689, 108 S.Ct. 1496; United States v. Gilan, 967 F.2d 776, 780 (2d Cir.1992). A trial court may, however, admit the evidence conditionally subject to proof that the defendant committed the other crime, allowing the proponent to `connect it up' later. Huddleston, 485 U.S. at 690 n. 7, 108 S.Ct. 1496 (internal quotation marks omitted). Where the admission of 404(b) evidence is conditional, the Court in Huddleston made clear that [i]t is, of course, not the responsibility of the judge sua sponte to insure that the foundation evidence is offered; the objector must move to strike the evidence if at the close of the trial the offeror has failed to satisfy the condition. Id. (quoting 21 C. Wright & K. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure § 5054, at 269-70 (1977)). 41 Based on the Court's decision in Huddleston, we conclude that an in limine motion is insufficient to preserve for appeal objections based on deficiencies in foundation evidence under Rule 404(b). See United States v. Ruffin, 40 F.3d 1296, 1298-99 (D.C.Cir.1994); United States v. Kandiel, 865 F.2d 967, 972 (8th Cir.1989). The district court would not normally be aware that any such deficiency exists until after the evidence is presented at trial. See United States v. Yu-Leung, 51 F.3d 1116, 1121 (2d Cir.1995) (holding in limine motion insufficient where issue cannot be finally decided at pretrial hearing). Indeed, the Supreme Court directed trial judges neither [to] weigh[] credibility nor make[] a finding that the Government has proved the conditional fact by a preponderance of the evidence at the time the 404(b) evidence is proffered. Huddleston, 485 U.S. at 690, 108 S.Ct. 1496. After the district court denied the 404(b) in limine motion, it remained the responsibility of the defendant to object at trial to the admission of the Theater Museum items if the government failed to establish the foundation for admissibility, including the fact that they had been stolen. 42 Because Aleskerova failed to renew at trial her objection to the admission of evidence regarding the Theater Museum items, our review is limited to whether the district court committed plain error. See United States v. Thomas, 274 F.3d 655, 666-67 (2d Cir.2001) (in banc); United States v. Jean-Baptiste, 166 F.3d 102, 107 (2d Cir.1999). Our review of the record does not reveal that the error, if any, is so egregious and obvious as to make the trial judge ... derelict in permitting it, despite the defendant's failure to object. United States v. Tillem, 906 F.2d 814, 825 (2d Cir.1990). 43 While we recognize that the evidence proving the stolen nature of the items was not overwhelming, we do not find that the district court committed plain error by failing to reassess sua sponte the admission of the evidence. Melikova testified that she identified seven items that bore stamps from the Theater Museum, that the items were similar to items described in the museum inventory list, and that those items were missing. This unexplained disappearance of carefully inventoried goods supports an inference of theft. United States v. Izzi, 427 F.2d 293, 297 (2d Cir.1970); see also United States v. James, 923 F.2d 1261, 1268 (7th Cir.1991). In addition, Aleskerova's lie to Azerbaijani Customs regarding her reasons for possessing the items tends to prove her consciousness of guilt. See Gordon, 987 F.2d at 907. 44 Nor did the district court commit plain error by admitting the Theater Museum items despite Aleskerova's arguments that her father-in-law, the founder of the Theater Museum, had given some of the items to her and that her lack of guilt should be inferred from the fact that the Azerbaijani officials returned nearly all of the items to her. The district court is required only to determine whether the jury could reasonably find that the items were stolen, see Huddleston, 485 U.S. at 690, 108 S.Ct. 1496, and Aleskerova's defenses were factors that could be considered, and rejected, by the jury, see United States v. Autuori, 212 F.3d 105, 118 (2d Cir.2000). 45 We also reject Aleskerova's argument that the district court committed plain error because the government failed to show that the items examined by the Theater Museum official were the same as those seized from her by Azerbaijani Customs. The items sufficiently matched Magaramov's inventory list and Aleskerova's statement of items she possessed to support the inference that the items were the same in the absence of evidence to the contrary. See United States v. Grant, 967 F.2d 81, 83-84 (2d Cir.1992) (per curiam). The defendant further contends that the dolls taken from her during the Baku Incident did not belong to the Theater Museum, pointing to a mismatch between some clothing on the seized dolls and the description of the dolls' clothing in the museum's inventory. However, it was not plain error to admit the dolls under Rule 404(b), given Melikova's testimony that the dolls could be removed from the frames for restoration and that some of the clothing matched the description in the inventory list. 46 Finally, we reject Aleskerova's claim that the references in the government's closing to the other items found during the Baku Incident warrant reversal. The prosecutor's single statement referring to the Azim-Zade paintings as stolen, even if misleading, in a lengthy and otherwise proper summation did not affect the fairness of the trial. See United States v. Gabriel, 125 F.3d 89, 96 (2d Cir.1997). 47 Thus, Aleskerova has failed to persuade us that the district court committed plain error. In addition, given the ample evidence to sustain her conviction, the admission of the 404(b) evidence did not affect her substantial rights. See Thomas, 274 F.3d at 668.