Opinion ID: 661484
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admission of Wisenbaker's Prior State Convictions

Text: 28 Wisenbaker failed to pay Texas state taxes on diesel fuel and was twice convicted by the courts of that state. 30 The district court allowed the prosecution to introduce evidence of Wisenbaker's two prior state convictions for failing to pay excise taxes on diesel fuel, over Wisenbaker's Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) objection. We review the district court's admission of the convictions over a 404(b) objection under a heightened abuse of discretion standard. 31 29 United States v. Beechum 32 calls for a two-part evaluation of the admissibility of evidence over a Rule 404(b) objection. 30 First, it must be determined that the extrinsic offense evidence is relevant to an issue other than the defendant's character. Second, the evidence must possess probative value that is not substantially outweighed by its undue prejudice and must meet the other requirements of rule 403. 33 31 The district court properly admitted the prior convictions at issue here. The government correctly urges that the prior state convictions are relevant to an issue other than Wisenbaker's character--specifically, that they are relevant to the element of willfulness and tend to negate Wisenbaker's assertion that he had a good-faith belief that he was not obligated to pay the taxes. 34 The probative value of the prior convictions outweighed the danger of unfair prejudice to Wisenbaker, so we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting them into evidence.