Opinion ID: 577188
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence properly admitted under inextricably intertwined doctrine

Text: 7 Appellants argue that the district court erroneously admitted evidence extrinsic to the crimes charged, in violation of Rules 403 and 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. 1 The crimes at issue occurred from 1978 through early 1981. We review the lower court's evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. United States v. Van Dorn, 925 F.2d 1331, 1338 n. 12 (11th Cir.1991). 8 Evidence of criminal activity other than the charged offense is admissible for purposes of Rule 404(b) if it: 9 pertain[s] to the chain of events explaining the context, motive and set-up of the crime [and is] linked in time and circumstances with the charged crime, or forms an integral and natural part of the account of the crime, or is necessary to complete the story of the crime for the jury. 10 Id. at 1338; see United States v. Montes-Cardenas, 746 F.2d 771, 780 (11th Cir.1984). 2 Rule 403 requires the exclusion of even intrinsic evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Fed.R.Evid. 403. Rule 403, however, must be applied sparingly.... The 'major function' of Rule 403 'is limited to excluding matters of scant or cumulative probative force, dragged in by the heels for the sake of its prejudicial effect.'  United States v. Cross, 928 F.2d 1030, 1048 (11th Cir.1991) (citations omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 594, 116 L.Ed.2d 618 (1991); see United States v. Huppert, 917 F.2d 507, 512 (11th Cir.1990). 11 The government's evidence concerning the formation of the conspiracy prior to 1978 was admissible as pertain[ing] to a chain of events forming the context, motive and set-up of the crime. Van Dorn, 925 F.2d at 1338; United States v. Mills, 704 F.2d 1553, 1559 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1243, 104 S.Ct. 3517, 82 L.Ed.2d 825 (1984). The government established that George Jung and Lehder met as inmates in 1974 and together began planning to introduce cocaine into the United States. See United States v. Champion, 813 F.2d 1154, 1172-73 (11th Cir.1987). The government then linked the conspiracy at its inception to its complex state in 1978 by showing how, during the course of the conspiracy, Jung introduced Lehder to future key conspirators who in turn introduced Lehder to other key conspirators. The roles and motives of the various co-conspirators in Lehder's distribution network from 1978 through 1981 would have been incomprehensible to the jurors had the prosecution failed to trace formation of the conspiracy to its origin with Lehder and Jung. See id. This basic structural evidence, admissible under Rule 404(b), therefore also retains probative value outweighing any danger of unfair prejudice. See, e.g., United States v. Van Dorn, 925 F.2d at 1338-39. 12 The district court likewise properly admitted evidence regarding when and how each co-conspirator separated from Lehder and on what terms, even when these separations occurred after early 1981. Carefully circumscribed evidence of criminal activity after the conclusion of the conspiracy may be admissible to complete the story of the conspiracy. See United States v. Gomez, 927 F.2d 1530, 1534-35 (11th Cir.1991); United States v. Weeks, 716 F.2d 830, 832 (11th Cir.1983). In the case at bar, the trial court minimized the possibility of prejudice by instructing the jury before and after such evidence was admitted that the evidence must be considered only to determine whether the conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise charged in the indictment in fact existed during the time frame set forth in the indictment. See United States v. Cardenas, 895 F.2d 1338, 1344 (11th Cir.1990). 13 Appellants also contend that the government improperly introduced evidence of a number of irrelevant collateral crimes that occurred during the course of the conspiracy. Lehder argues that he suffered prejudice when the government entered evidence of unrelated occurrences such as his deportation from the United States in 1975, his placement on the Bahamian Stop List, his transportation of prostitutes to Norman's Cay, his drug use, his excessive partying and his illegitimate child. This Court has found that [w]hile not all bad acts occurring within the time frame of a conspiracy are automatically admissible, the fact that [they occurred in conjunction with a] co-conspirator during the time of the conspiracy weighs heavily toward finding the acts are intertwined. United States v. Williford, 764 F.2d 1493, 1499 (11th Cir.1985). 14 We find that most of this evidence was intrinsic to the proof of the conspiracy. Lehder's deportation shaped his smuggling operation by forcing him to operate primarily in neighboring countries and to arrange for supervisors to oversee distribution in the United States. His placement on the Bahamian Stop List, making his continued presence in the Bahamas illegal, significantly affected his method of operation from Norman's Cay. Lehder's transportation of prostitutes to Norman's Cay was primarily for the benefit of his pilots, and thus was relevant to his recruitment of key personnel for the narcotics operation. The fact that Lehder personally used drugs demonstrated his familiarity with cocaine and explained descriptions of his sometimes erratic and paranoid management of the conspiracy. Cf. United States v. Cardenas, 895 F.2d at 1344 (evidence of prior drug dealings highly probative of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances). Evidence regarding each of these activities was closely tied to establishing the nature and type of the conspiracy, and therefore possessed a probative value that outweighed the potential for prejudicial harm. See United States v. Champion, 813 F.2d at 1172-73. 15 The government's suggestion to the jury that Lehder engaged in frequent partying and that he fathered an illegitimate child during the conspiracy carried prejudice that substantially outweighed its de minimis relevance to the case. However, because the defense itself had described Lehder as a playboy who frequently engaged in excesses, and because the government apparently made reference to his illegitimate child only once and in passing, these errors are harmless. See United States v. Camejo, 929 F.2d 610, 616-17 (11th Cir.1991); United States v. Reed, 700 F.2d 638, 646 (11th Cir.1983); see generally Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 86-87, 84 S.Ct. 229, 230-231, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963); Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 23-24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 827-828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). 3 16 Reed also claims that the government improperly introduced evidence of a number of extrinsic and prejudicial collateral bad acts. We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the vast majority of this evidence. Evidence regarding his prior drug smuggling from Mexico related to his smuggling experience and qualifications, and ultimately to his importance to the Lehder operation. See United States v. Cardenas, 895 F.2d at 1344. Reed's personal use of cocaine revealed his familiarity with the drug and his ability to perform as a pilot. His involvement in extorting money owed by co-conspirators to Lehder's operation, his death threat to a reputed DEA agent stationed on Norman's Cay, and his attempts to force three persons to leave the island revealed the breadth of Reed's participation in Lehder's organization. Reed's efforts to introduce a former co-conspirator to cocaine distributors and his stash of weapons on Norman's Cay were also highly probative of Reed's involvement in the smuggling operation. See, e.g., United States v. Martin, 794 F.2d at 1532-33. Finally, testimony that Reed planned to leave the island to grow marijuana in Colombia was entered only to explain how Reed and another key co-conspirator parted for the last time. See United States v. Gomez, 927 F.2d at 1534-35. 17 Testimony by two witnesses that Reed purchased and possessed pornography and sexual devices, and by a DEA agent that Reed possessed a false passport while residing in Panama after the conclusion of the conspiracy was prejudicial and of insignificant probative value, see, e.g., United States v. Cox, 536 F.2d 65, 71 (5th Cir.1976), and we conclude that it fails the balancing test of Rule 403. The lower court's erroneous admission of this evidence was nevertheless harmless. See Camejo, 929 F.2d at 616-17. The evidence was mentioned only in passing and described actions that were trivial in comparison to some of Reed's most egregious conduct as a co-conspirator. Id.; see United States v. Champion, 813 F.2d at 1173. 18 Finally, Lehder contends that the district court erroneously admitted evidence of his views on Hitler and other revolutionaries such as Che Guevara, and impermissibly allowed comparisons between Lehder's organization and the Third Reich. The government introduced this evidence primarily to establish Lehder's motives. See Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). Lehder consciously imitated Hitler's organizational genius in structuring his smuggling operation. He was fascinated by the revolutionaries and hoped that he might facilitate the demise of the United States by importing large quantities of cocaine. Lehder's political views thus explained in part why he continued to smuggle cocaine long after amassing millions of dollars. This evidence was therefore of considerable probative value in proving Lehder's motives for his continued participation in the conspiracy as well as for articulating the nature and scope of the conspiracy. See, e.g., United States v. Mills, 704 F.2d at 1559 (admission of evidence of defendant's membership in Aryan Brotherhood inextricably intertwined with establishing motive for crime); United States v. Harrell, 737 F.2d 971, 978 (11th Cir.1984) (testimony about Outlaws Motorcycle Club admissible because it was important in understanding the existence, motives and object of the drug-trafficking conspiracy). 19 The potential prejudicial value of references and comparisons to Hitler and the Third Reich is not lost upon this Court, however. Such inflammatory evidence retains a sufficiently countervailing probative value only when less prejudicial evidence fails to describe sufficiently the motive and nature of the crime. See United States v. Watchmaker, 761 F.2d 1459, 1471 (11th Cir.1985) (probative value in part is function of the prosecution's need for the evidence in making its case). We find that the district court improperly permitted a witness to testify that Lehder planned to mark his share of cocaine packages with swastikas. The government contends that this witness' remark served in part to corroborate related testimony by witnesses with shaky credibility. Mere corroboration of testimony, however, fails to justify the introduction of unrelated bad acts. United States v. Miller, 883 F.2d 1540, 1544 (11th Cir.1989), vacated and en banc review granted on unrelated grounds, 923 F.2d 158 (11th Cir.1991). Because Lehder's method of labeling his cocaine packages was not critical to the prosecution's establishment of a conspiracy, the district court abused its discretion by admitting this highly prejudicial evidence. 20 The swastika testimony was nevertheless harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Camejo, 929 F.2d at 616-17. The witness briefly testified about the labeling and represented only one of the prosecution's 115 witnesses. 4 Moreover, the prejudicial impact of this particular testimony was mitigated by the jury's exposure to similar testimony properly introduced to describe Lehder's motives and the nature of the conspiracy. See United States v. Prater, 805 F.2d 1441, 1443-46 (11th Cir.1986). 21