Opinion ID: 397949
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trooper Nichols's Testimony

Text: 20 Proof that the defendant has the specific intent to deceive by making a false or fraudulent statement is a prerequisite to a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. United States v. Lange, 528 F.2d 1280, 1286 (5th Cir. 1976). In seeking to establish Dothard's intent to deceive or mislead, the prosecutor questioned Dothard about a purported false statement he made to an Alabama driver's license examiner some four years ago concerning his employment. Although Dothard denied telling the examiner, state trooper Willie Nichols, that he was a VA counselor, Dothard admitted that, in response to the examiner's request for identification, he produced an identification card which showed that he was a New York VA investigator. 21 The prosecutor attempted to elicit testimony from Nichols that Dothard had lied in stating that he was a VA investigator. The trial court stated that Nichols could testify regarding the implication of receiving the identification card and the impression this left with the examiner. Nichols subsequently testified that when he questioned the defendant about his occupation, Dothard stated that he was a VA investigator, but it was later determined that Dothard was unemployed. On cross-examination, Nichols was unable to state exactly what was said, and no record was made of the conversation which occurred almost four years earlier. 22 Applying the above standards to this case, we conclude that the trial court improperly admitted trooper Nichols's testimony. Although the trial court's statement indicated a belief that Dothard made no actual mention of his employment, Nichols's and Dothard's testimony created a jury issue on this question. Nevertheless, we conclude that the first step of the Beechum test was not satisfied as to this evidence. Because Dothard's conduct in presenting his VA identification card was sufficiently ambiguous under the evidence presented, we are unable to say that he possessed the same state of mind, that is, knowingly and willingly making a false statement with the intent to deceive, in perpetrating the alleged misrepresentation on the driver's license application and the charged offense. 23 Further, unlike Beechum, no logical nexus existed between this extrinsic act and the present charge so that the extrinsic act was probative of Dothard's state of mind. At the time of his arrest, Beechum possessed contraband in the form of a silver dollar and two credit cards. The disputed issue concerned whether Beechum intended to return the silver dollar, as he claimed, or to keep it for himself. Although Beechum had possessed the credit cards for some ten months prior to his arrest, the Fifth Circuit held that it was permissible to question Beechum why he would give up the silver dollar if he had kept the credit cards. The court held the extrinsic offense, the stealing and possession of the credit cards, relevant to demonstrating Beechum's intent at the time of the current offense, the taking and possession of the silver dollar. The court noted that Beechum's possession of the credit cards with illicit intent at the time of his arrest diminished the likelihood that at the same moment he intended to return the silver dollar. See United States v. Satterfield, 644 F.2d 1092 (5th Cir. 1981) (per curiam) (prior failure to declare currency on Customs forms when entering country admissible to prove defendant's knowledge of reporting requirement and specific intent to willfully violate same statute). In this case, the incident concerning Dothard's application for an Alabama license in no way demonstrates that he knew of the presence of items forty and forty-two on the form and that he knowingly and willfully falsified his Guard application. 24 Further, the prosecutor, by his own admission, undertook to try Dothard's propensity for crime rather than his state of mind at the time of the charged offense: 25 The Court: What are you trying to show? 26 (The Prosecutor): That he lied and his mode of conduct is lying and concealing things and not telling the truth. 27 In so doing, the prosecutor violated the mandate of rule 404(b) precluding the admission of other acts to prove the character of a person. 28 Even had the extrinsic act evidence survived the first test, however, it failed to overcome the second obstacle. The temporal remoteness of the extrinsic act depleted this evidence of any force of probity whatsoever. Jimenez, 613 F.2d at 1376. Additionally, the cross-examination of Nichols cast doubt on whether Dothard ever possessed any illicit intent or even intended to represent himself as a VA employee in using a government identification card to verify his identity. Because the probative value of the evidence was far outweighed by its prejudicial impact, the court abused its discretion in not excluding the evidence. 29 We also note that the design or scheme exception does not encompass the evidence concerning Dothard's application for an Alabama license. Trooper Nichols's testimony failed to indicate that this incident was so intertwined with the crime charged as to indicate that they are separate components of a general plan. Beechum, 582 F.2d at 912 n.15. At most, this testimony feebly shows the defendant's propensity to commit crimes similar to the charged offense. Goodwin, 492 F.2d at 1153. We therefore conclude that the trial court erred in admitting Nichols's testimony on the issue of mode of operation.