Opinion ID: 429807
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Evidence of a Prior Offense.

Text: 51 Lopez argues that it was prejudicial error to permit the testimony about his 1974 marihuana offense. We do not agree. Lopez was caught red-handed crossing the border with heroin in his possession. His only defense was that he did not know that it was heroin, but thought it was marihuana. Our holding regarding the instructions makes it clear that such a belief, even if genuine, is not a defense. But Lopez's counsel at the trial conceded all of the other relevant facts, and concentrated his case, and especially his closing argument, entirely upon Lopez's claimed belief that what he carried was marihuana. No doubt counsel felt that to bring in or possess a pound and a half of marihuana was so minor a crime that he might get an acquittal from the jury if he could convince the jury that it should believe Lopez. Counsel began his argument to the jury by saying: It appears certain that there is only one issue upon which you probably will have to decide this case, and that is knowledge and intent. RT Vol. VI at 20. 52 Under these circumstances, we hold that the evidence about the previous offense was relevant and probative. In 1974, Lopez was paid $1,000 to haul 340 pounds of marihuana from Mexico to Tucson. Having been in that deal, he could hardly believe that he was being paid $1,000 to haul a pound and a half of marihuana from Hermosillo, Mexico to Nogales, Arizona. A jury could well find that he must have known that he was carrying a drug worth a great deal more per pound than marihuana. The evidence showed that the street value of a pound of marihuana is $500 to $600. 53 Lopez argues that the judge should not have admitted the evidence without a hearing into the legality of the stop that led to the arrest in 1974, and that, even if the evidence is admissible under the Fourth Amendment, the statement violates F.R.Evid. 404(b) pertaining to evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. 54 A. The Fourth Amendment. 55 The government argues that Lopez waived any claim that the 1974 stop was illegal by pleading guilty in the resulting juvenile adjudication. It also argues that collateral estoppel bars Lopez from requesting a suppression hearing relating to statements he made while he was under arrest then. 56 The government cites cases refusing to consider tardy constitutional claims brought as challenges to underlying convictions. E.g., Tollett v. Henderson, 1973, 411 U.S. 258, 93 S.Ct. 1602, 36 L.Ed.2d 235. However, Lopez is not attacking the 1974 juvenile commitment. Instead, he seeks in the present case a determination that was never made, expressly or by necessary implication, in the 1974 proceeding. We need not consider the government's waiver or estoppel claim, however, because even if the 1974 arrest were illegal, the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule would not bar use of Lopez's 1974 post-arrest statement in his 1982 trial. 57 The rule that evidence obtained in an illegal search or seizure must be suppressed has never been interpreted to proscribe the use of illegally seized evidence in all proceedings or against all persons. United States v. Calandra, 1974, 414 U.S. 338, 348, 94 S.Ct. 613, 620, 38 L.Ed.2d 561. See generally Walder v. United States, 1954, 347 U.S. 62, 74 S.Ct. 354, 98 L.Ed. 503. If application of the rule in a particular situation does not result in appreciable deterrence, then, clearly, its use ... is unwarranted. United States v. Janis, 1976, 428 U.S. 433, 454, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 3032, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046; see Calandra, 414 U.S. at 351, 94 S.Ct. at 621. 58 We applied these principles in United States v. Raftery, 9 Cir., 1976, 534 F.2d 854, where we held that evidence excluded from a state drug prosecution could be used later to prove the entirely separate offense of perjury before a grand jury. Id. at 857. There are some differences between Raftery and the case before us, but we do not think that they justify a different outcome. In Raftery, the evidence had been obtained in a state case, while both the 1974 and the present proceedings against Lopez are federal. We think the inquiry whether exclusion will, in any particular situation, deter illegal official conduct should not hinge alone on the matter of which sovereign employs the investigating or prosecuting officers. See Tirado v. C.I.R., 2 Cir., 1982, 689 F.2d 307, 310-11. 59 Moreover, there is no suggestion here of any bad faith or collusion by the federal officers in the two arrests of Lopez. Eight years separate the two incidents; this is not a case where there are hints that the first investigation and prosecution might be planned to ensure the success of the second. We see nothing that persuades us that the officers of the 1974 arrest ever imagined that statements they elicited from Lopez then would be useful in proving his intent in a case involving another crime committed in 1982. Like the investigating officers in Janis, Raftery, and Tirado, the agents in 1974 did not have the later 1982 proceedings in their zone of primary interest. Janis, 428 U.S. at 458, 96 S.Ct. at 3034. 60 We hold that the additional measure of deterrence that might be provided by the exclusion in the 1982 trial of statements from the 1974 arrest is too small to outweigh the cost to society of the loss of relevant and probative evidence in the 1982 proceeding. 61 B. Rule 404(b). 62 Under F.R.Evid. 404(b), evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is admissible to prove intent only if(1) the prior act is similar and close enough in time to be relevant, (2) the evidence of the prior act is clear and convincing and (3) ... the probative value of the evidence outweighs any potential prejudice. 63 United States v. Bronco, 9 Cir., 1979, 597 F.2d 1300, 1302-03, quoting United States v. Brashier, 9 Cir., 1976, 548 F.2d 1315, 1325. Lopez argues that his 1974 statement should not have been admitted under Rule 404(b) because it was both irrelevant and prejudicial. We look to see only if the trial judge abused his discretion in admitting such evidence. United States v. Segovia, 9 Cir., 1978, 576 F.2d 251, 253. 64 Although the passage of eight years makes the first incident fairly remote in time from the second, the trial judge properly exercised his discretion in finding the first similar enough to the second to be relevant. The fact that the first involved marihuana while the second involved heroin does not bar admission, when both arrests were for possession with intent to distribute, see id. at 252-53, and when Lopez's defense was that he thought he was carrying marihuana, not heroin. 65 Contrary to what Lopez now argues, the nature of the controlled substance that he was carrying was relevant to the jury's fact-finding. His counsel made it so. The trial judge gave proper limiting instructions both immediately after the agent's testimony about the 1974 incident, RT Vol. IV at 36-37, and at the close of trial, id. at 52-53. 66 Affirmed.