Opinion ID: 2752898
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Bad-Acts Evidence

Text: 7 Case: 14-10925 Date Filed: 11/19/2014 Page: 8 of 11 Felix next argues that the district court erred by admitting prejudicial and improper prior-bad-acts evidence, namely, the March 2010 traffic stop in Virginia in which he was found to be in possession of a firearm, but never convicted. He maintains that this evidence should have been excluded under the Rule 403 balancing test because the prior charge was remote in time, involved a distinct factual situation, and bore little resemblance to the instant case where knowledge of the gun was not at issue. Under Rule 404(b), evidence of other crimes or prior bad acts “is not admissible to prove a person’s character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with [that] character,” but it may be admissible to prove, among other things, the defendant’s knowledge, absence of mistake, or lack of accident. Fed. R. Evid. 404(b). To be admissible, the Rule 404(b) evidence must: (1) be relevant to an issue other than the defendant’s character; (2) be proved sufficiently to permit a jury determination that the defendant committed the act; and (3) possess probative value that it is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. United States v. Jernigan, 341 F.3d 1273, 1280 (11th Cir. 2003). Only the first and third elements are at issue here. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence that, approximately 18 months prior to the date of the instant offense 8 Case: 14-10925 Date Filed: 11/19/2014 Page: 9 of 11 conduct, Felix had been stopped by a Virginia State Trooper who found a different firearm in his car. This evidence was relevant to establishing that Felix knowingly possessed the firearm involved in this case. By entering a not-guilty plea, Felix made knowledge an issue in his case. See Jernigan, 341 F.3d at 1281-82 (“[T]he caselaw in this and other circuits establishes clearly the logical connection between a convicted felon’s knowing possession of a firearm at one time and his knowledge that a firearm is present at a subsequent time (or, put differently, that his possession at the subsequent time is not mistaken or accidental).”). Additionally, because the evidence was vital to countering Felix’s defense that he did not knowingly possess the firearm at issue in this case, its probative value was not obviously and substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. See United States v. Lopez, 649 F.3d 1222, 1247 (11th Cir. 2011) (explaining that excluding evidence on grounds of undue prejudice “is an extraordinary remedy which the district court should invoke sparingly, and the balance should be struck in favor of admissibility”). Moreover, the district court gave the jury a limiting instruction before the Trooper’s testimony and again in the jury charge, thus mitigating any potential prejudice caused by the admission of the prior-bad-act evidence. See United States v. Edouard, 485 F.3d 1324, 1346 (11th Cir. 2007).