Opinion ID: 778092
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Character Evidence and Evidence of Impoverishment

Text: 16 Sanchez-Gonzalez argues that the District Court abused its discretion by refusing to permit him to introduce character evidence to rebut the Government's allegedly inflammatory opening statement and by refusing to permit him to introduce evidence of his impoverishment to rebut the Government's attempt to paint him as a king-pin. As to the character evidence, Sanchez-Gonzalez barely presents an argument in his brief. He makes a blanket assertion about inflammatory mischaracterizations in the Government's opening statement and then cites two cases. Moreover, he did not raise any objections about inflammatory mischaracterizations during the Government's opening statement at trial and does not seem to have taken any action to preserve the issue for appeal. We cannot conclude from this that the Court abused its discretion. 17 Likewise, Sanchez-Gonzalez does not explain why he should have been permitted to introduce evidence of impoverishment. The District Court has discretion when determining relevancy and prejudice under Federal Rules of Evidence 401, 402, and 403, and it determined prior to trial that any evidence of Sanchez-Gonzalez's impoverishment would be irrelevant. Because there does not appear to have been an abuse of discretion, we affirm the District Court's evidentiary ruling.