Opinion ID: 168642
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Motion to exclude firearms evidence admitted as tools of the trade.

Text: 19 Mr. Hall maintains the District Court erred in admitting into evidence, as tools of the drug trade, an unloaded shotgun and various ammunition (but no shotgun shells) that were discovered during the execution of a search warrant at Mr. Hall's residence. The ammunition was discovered inside Mr. Hall's house, while the shotgun was discovered in an inoperable car parked outside his residence. Citing Fed.R.Evid. 403, Mr. Hall argued to the District Court that the probative value of this evidence is far outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Specifically, he contended that the Government could not link Mr. Hall to the shotgun because it was seized from an abandoned car while Mr. Hall was asleep in his bedroom; there were no fingerprints on the gun; there was no evidence that drug-dealing ever went on in his home; no shotgun shells were discovered during the search; and the search was executed approximately a week after the last date of the conspiracy alleged by the Government. Mr. Hall also notes that he was not charged with a firearms offense. 20 Some items like firearms, large sums of cash, weighing scales, and uncharged quantities of illegal drugs are generally viewed as tools of the trade— that is, means for the distribution of illegal drugs. United States v. Martinez, 938 F.2d 1078, 1083 (10th Cir.1991). As such, these items are probative of a defendant's participation in the drug distribution business. Id. The Government is not required to prove that the firearms or ammunition were used for a particular transaction in order for the evidence to be probative. That the police did not uncover the items until after the charged conspiracy was alleged to have ended does not mean that they were not involved in the ongoing conspiracy before it ended. Furthermore, [i]t is basically immaterial to the admissibility inquiry in cases like these whether the accused has been charged with an offense directly related to his or her possession of a `tool of the trade.' Martinez, 938 F.2d at 1083. 21 Though the shotgun was found in an abandoned car, the gun itself was oiled, cleaned, and spotless. It was sitting on top of other items in the car and it was easily accessible to Mr. Hall because the car, a T-top, was right outside the backdoor and one could grab the gun simply by reaching down through the roof of the car. Furthermore, the video surveillance and wiretaps revealed that Mr. Hall frequently returned to his residence immediately after negotiating drug transactions over the phone with Mr. Small. The Government also pointed out that in addition to the weapons-related evidence, the police recovered other tools of the trade in their search—namely, $2,700 in cash and two scales that were found to have residue of cocaine on them. Based on the foregoing, we find no abuse of discretion in the District Court's decision to admit this evidence. 22