Opinion ID: 62340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timika Jones

Text: Jones testified that she first met Dillon as an ACA at traffic court where he offered to get rid of her outstanding parking tickets for $150 or sex. She declined that invitation, and Dillon reset her court date. Thereafter, late one evening in November 2004, Jones ran into Dillon at a liquor store near her grandmother's house in New Orleans. Jones had been dropped off at the store by some friends and planned to take the bus home. Dillon offered Jones a ride so that she would not have to wait for the bus. On the ride home, Dillon passed the turnoff to Jones's house and continued on to a desolate, unlighted area on Almonaster Road. At that point, he began rubbing Jones's leg. He then instructed her to manually masturbate him. Jones complied because she was scared. He then told Jones to perform oral sex on him, and he stated that if she did not do so he would put [her] out of his car. Jones thereafter complied because she was afraid that anything could happen to her if he put her out of the car. Dillon then drove Jones home. After that night, Dillon continued to call Jones seeking payment or sex for helping her with her traffic tickets. Dillon testified he did not even know Jones. Dillon argues that the district court erred by admitting Jones's testimony under Rule 413 because he did not use force, a threat of force, or fear to secure her involvement in the intercourse and because his encounters with Jones were not sufficiently similar to the charged offenses to be probative. Dillon's initial argument has no merit. Force, or a threat of force, is not required, only a lack of victim consent. [5] Jones testified that she complied with Dillon's demand for sexual gratification because he threatened to put her out of the car if she did not comply and she feared he would do so. The jury could reasonably find that Jones's acts were not consensual and that Dillon intentionally put her in fear. [6] Next, Dillon argues that the probative value of Jones's testimony was substantially outweighed by its potential to unfairly prejudice the jury because it was not sufficiently similar to the charged sexual assaults, so it should have been excluded under Rule 403. To evaluate this argument, we first look to the text of Rule 413, which instructs that evidence of prior sexual assaults may be considered for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant. FED. R. EVID. 413(a). This broad allowance for admission is limited by Rule 403's balancing test, which allows evidence to be admitted as long as its probative value is not substantially outweighed by its potential for unfair prejudice. See Guidry, 456 F.3d at 503. Similarity is relevant because the more similar the uncharged activity is to the charged offense, the more probative it is. Id. at 504 n. 6. Consequently, Jones's alleged sexual assault does not need to have been identical to Carraby's and Carter's to be admissible, but aspects of the assault must have sufficient probative value as to some element of the charged offense to not be substantially outweighed by its danger of unfair prejudice. In order to prove its case against Dillon, the government bore the burden of establishing a number of elements, including that: Dillon had sex with Carraby and Carter, the sex was not consensual, and Dillon acted under color of law. Dillon's position, as reflected in his counsel's opening statement at the beginning of trial and in his testimony, was that his sexual intercourse with Carraby and with Carter was consensual. Jones's testimony that Dillon had told her that he would fix her tickets for $150 or sex is probative because it indicates that Dillon was willing to use his official position to coerce women into having sexual relations with him. The fact that Dillon coerced Jones into performing sex acts on him is probative of whether he would have had nonconsensual intercourse with Carraby and Carter. Finally, Jones's alleged sexual assault took place less than a month before Dillon sexually assaulted Carraby. The close proximity in time of Dillon's assault of Jones with one of the charged offenses heightens the probative value of Jones's testimony. See id. Under the appropriate standard of review, we are unable to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in admitting Jones's testimony.