Opinion ID: 593168
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Photograph of Cocaine

Text: 21 During Peter Clark's direct testimony on the first day of trial, the government offered a photograph depicting Clark holding a kilogram of cocaine. The photograph was admitted, over objection, at least initially for the purpose of showing the jury what a kilogram of cocaine looked like. Later, however, Clark testified that the cocaine depicted in the photograph had been bought from Bello-Perez. Bello-Perez argues that the probative value of the photograph was substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. See Fed.R.Evid. 403. 22 A trial court's decision to admit evidence over a Rule 403 objection is accorded considerable deference. Only rarely--and in extraordinarily compelling circumstances--will we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, reverse a district court's on-the-spot judgment concerning the relative weighing of probative value and unfair effect. Freeman v. Package Mach. Co., 865 F.2d 1331, 1340 (1st Cir.1988); see also Doty v. Sewall, 908 F.2d 1053, 1059 (1st Cir.1990) (extremely deferential standard, perhaps even higher than abuse of discretion) (citing S. Childress & M. Davis, 1 Standards of Review ). Even if we were persuaded that the photograph somehow unfairly prejudiced Bello-Perez, we could not conclude that any unfair prejudice substantially outweighed the probative value. The photograph tended to corroborate the testimony of a key government witness relating to the distribution of large quantities of cocaine. Cf. United States v. Gonzalez, 933 F.2d 417, 427 (7th Cir.1991) (no error in displaying large quantity of seized cocaine, to assist jury in understanding logistics of transportation and impossibility of personal use). 23