Opinion ID: 1322793
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Clark's Prior Drug Relationships

Text: On appeal, Clark asserts that evidence relating to his prior drug dealings and drug relationships with Quincy and Green violated Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) and was not intricately related to the charges against him. Prior to trial, the government submitted that the evidence was admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) to show Clark's intent, knowledge, lack of mistake, motive and opportunity. To the surprise of the district court judge, defense counsel agreed to the admission of the evidence and expressed his intent to expand on it and offer even more evidence of other events to establish the patsy defense, specifically, to show that the money Green channeled to Clark in prison was hush money to keep Clark quiet about Green's drug dealings and an alleged murder. At trial, however, defense counsel objected to the admission of the evidence, claiming that it was irrelevant, prejudicial, confusing, and cumulative. The government asserts that Clark has waived this argument, and we agree. Waiver occurs when a criminal defendant intentionally relinquishes a known right. United States v. Clements, 522 F.3d 790, 793 (7th Cir.2008) (quoting United States v. Brodie, 507 F.3d 527, 530 (7th Cir.2007)). Forfeiture, on the other hand, occurs when a defendant negligently fails to assert a right in a timely fashion. Id. Waiver extinguishes any error and precludes appellate review, while forfeiture warrants review for plain error only. Id.; see United States v. Haddad, 462 F.3d 783, 793 (7th Cir.2006). When a defendant elects to pursue one argument over another as a matter of strategy, he waives those arguments he decided not to present. United States v. Jaimes-Jaimes, 406 F.3d 845, 848 (7th Cir.2005) (citing cases). Rarely is there a clearer example of waiver than exists here. Clark affirmatively and repeatedly agreed to the admissibility of the evidence establishing his prior drug dealing and drug relationships, and made clear to the district court that he wished to expand on that evidence to establish his patsy defense. Clark's intent to forego his current argument against the evidence is clear in the record. At no point prior to this appeal did Clark object to the evidence as not intricately related; in fact, his defense strategy depended on the evidence being intricately related to the facts and circumstances of the current charges in order to show that the prior relationship and channeling of funds from Green was evidence that Clark was merely the insurance valve for the conspiracy. See United States v. Simpson, 479 F.3d 492, 500 (7th Cir.2007) (explaining the intricately related evidence doctrine). His defense strategy failed, but that does not entitle the issue to appellate review. Clark waived the argument that evidence of his prior drug relationships was improperly admitted.