Opinion ID: 202635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The July 7 Meeting

Text: 9 Rivera next challenges the Perez testimony that, two months after the May 9 theft, Rivera approached Perez with an offer to participate in a similar drug theft. The district court admitted this evidence on the twin grounds that the Rivera offer was part and parcel of the ongoing drug conspiracy charged in the indictment, and/or that the evidence was admissible under Rule 404(b) because it tended to rebut the defense theory that Rivera had not known that the May 9 theft would involve drugs. 10 On appeal, Rivera challenges only the former ground. We need not reach that argument, however, 3 inasmuch as Rivera's July 7 offer was admitted in evidence neither to demonstrate bad character nor propensity to commit crimes, but instead was plainly admissible under Rule 404(b) as a bad act tending to rebut the defense theory that Rivera lacked the requisite knowledge that the conspiracy — and his May 9 actions in furtherance of that conspiracy — involved the planned theft of not only cash, but drugs as well. See, e.g., Landrau-Lopez, 444 F.3d at 24 (upholding admission of evidence to refute defendant's claimed ignorance of cocaine); supra note 1. Thus, the Rule 404(b) evidentiary ruling did not remotely constitute an abuse of discretion. See id. at 23. 11 Although Rivera contends that the district court should have instructed the jury not to use the evidence to prove bad character or propensity, Rivera waived his entitlement by failing to request such an instruction. See United States v. Walter, 434 F.3d 30, 35 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 2879, 165 L.Ed.2d 907 (2006). 12 Finally, even if the admission in evidence of Rivera's July 7 offer constituted error under Rule 404(b), it was obviously harmless. See United States v. Roberson, 459 F.3d 39, 49 (1st Cir.2006) (noting that an erroneous admission of evidence does not warrant reversal if it is highly probable that the error did not influence the verdict (citation omitted)). As previously stated, see supra Section II.A., the government adduced video and audio recordings of meetings among the coconspirators, in the course of which Perez explicitly described the plan to steal heroin from the drug dealer's vehicle. Thus, these red-handed recordings inescapably inculpated Rivera. 13 Affirmed.