Opinion ID: 777541
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of the Weapons

Text: 46 Perrotta filed a pre-trial motion in limine to exclude, as evidence against him, all tangible evidence seized from his residence as such evidence is inadmissible pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) and introduction of the same would deny the defendant the fair trial to which he is entitled. At the motion hearing, Perrotta argued that introduction of the guns, brass knuckles, billy club, and fake bomb would be highly prejudicial. Those items, he contended, are irrelevant to the crimes charged and will clearly result in the [j]ury being invited to convict Mr. Perrotta ... because ... of bad character or things that the [j]ury in this climate will not like — possession of firearms and ... other weapons. The district court denied the motion. 47 At trial, police officers testified to the discovery of the guns, brass knuckles, and fake bomb in Perrotta's residence, and the billy club in Perrotta's car. Except with respect to the brass knuckles, Perrotta made no objection to this testimony. Nor did he raise a 404(b) objection to the recorded conversation in which Lato said to Folco they got Perrotta, [b]ombs, guns, everything. 7 However, when the government requested that the seized items be marked as exhibits, Perrotta objected on the ground of relevance. 48 On appeal, Perrotta argues that the district court should have excluded the weapons under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) as evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts, or because their probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice under Fed.R.Evid. 403. 8 49 To admit evidence of [other] bad acts, a trial court must find that the evidence passes two tests. First, the evidence must have `special relevance' to an issue in the case ..., and must not include bad character or propensity as a necessary link in the inferential chain. Second, under Rule 403, evidence that is specially relevant may still be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. 50 United States v. Varoudakis, 233 F.3d 113, 118 (1st Cir.2000) (quoting United States v. Frankhauser, 80 F.3d 641, 648 (1st Cir.1996)). We review the district court's evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. United States v. Gilbert, 181 F.3d 152, 160 (1st Cir.1999).
51 Although Perrotta argues that the weapons had none of the special relevance to the charges against him required by Rule 404(b), he did not challenge the police testimony that the weapons were found in his possession. Nor did he challenge Lato's [b]ombs, guns, everything remark on special relevance grounds. Thus, even if we were to conclude that the introduction of the actual weapons lacked the special relevance required by the rule and only served to create a negative inference about Perrotta's character, we would have to consider the important fact that evidence about Perrotta's possession of the weapons was already in the case because of the testimony to which Perrotta did not object on 404(b) grounds. Under Fed.R.Evid. 103(a), this court must review a challenged evidentiary decision to determine whether `a substantial right of the party is affected.' Doty v. Sewall, 908 F.2d 1053, 1057 (1st Cir.1990) (quoting Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)). We have held that no substantial right of the party is affected where the evidence admitted was cumulative as to other admitted evidence. Id. To the extent that Perrotta was concerned that the admission of the weapons into evidence wrongly alerted the jury to the fact that he had possessed them, any such error would be harmless. The jury already knew that fact from the testimony of witnesses about the weapons. 52 For the sake of completeness, however, and to dispel any notion of unfairness surrounding the admission of the testimony about the weapons, we add that if Perrotta had objected to the testimony about the weapons, and had not limited his objection to their introduction into evidence, his objection would have been meritless. Testimony about the discovery of the guns, brass knuckles, billy club, and fake bomb in Perrotta's home and car had the special relevance to the government's case required by Rule 404(b). In a conversation recorded the day after the search of Perrotta's home and car, Lato said to Folco that he was afraid that [b]ombs, guns, everything had been taken from Perrotta. The Folco-Lato conversation in all of its detail was probative of the relationship between Perrotta and Folco, revealing an alarmed reaction by Folco and Lato to the investigation of Perrotta, and thereby suggesting that Perrotta was a significant player in their loansharking operation. In addition, their awareness of the details of the seizure from Perrotta so soon after it happened was further evidence of their close relationship with him. Perrotta's contention that the weapons had no relevance except to support a negative inference about his character is therefore without merit. 53 The government also argues that the seized weapons were relevant generally as tools of the trade of extortion because they are useful to protect the lender and intimidate borrowers, and thus they tend to show that Perrotta was a loan shark. We have said that in drug trafficking firearms have become `tools of the trade' and thus are probative of the existence of a drug conspiracy. United States v. Green, 887 F.2d 25, 27 (1st Cir.1989). The government urges us to extend the tools of the trade rationale for the admission of weapons to the crime of extortion, reasoning that weapons are tools of the loan shark's trade just as they are tools of the drug dealer's trade, and thus are probative of loan sharking activity. United States v. Gilley, 836 F.2d 1206, 1214 n. 9 (9th Cir.1988) (noting that the tools of the trade doctrine might be applicable to extortion). The district court appeared to endorse the government's tools of the trade theory in denying Perrotta's motion to exclude the weapons. In our view, however, there are three reasons why this was a poor case for the government to urge extending the tools of the trade doctrine to the crime of extortion: (1) the government does not claim that Perrotta himself used threats of violence to enforce debts owed to him; (2) there was little left of Perrotta's relevance objection after he did not object to the testimony about the weapons; and (3) the weapons had a case-specific relevance to the charges against Perrotta that we have already described. See Gilley, 836 F.2d at 1214 n. 9 (Where, as here, a clear nexus exists between the evidence and the crime charged, no resort need be made to the `tools of the trade' doctrine.). Because resort to the tools of the trade doctrine was unnecessary in this case, we do not address the merits of the government's argument.
54 Perrotta also argues that the weapons should have been excluded under Rule 403, as their probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Since the jury was not being asked to make any specific determinations concerning the physical characteristics of the weapons, we discern no particular reason why the jury needed to see the actual weapons. However, it is a commonplace of trial practice that testimony about physical objects often leads to their introduction into evidence. That introduction serves to corroborate the testimony about the existence of the objects, a purpose captured by the familiar phrase seeing is believing. 9 This added increment of probative value is appropriate unless it is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant. Fed.R.Evid. 403; see also United States v. Rodriguez-Estrada, 877 F.2d 153, 156 (1st Cir.1989) ([A]ll evidence is meant to be prejudicial; it is only unfair prejudice which must be avoided. (emphasis in original)). 55 `[O]nly rarely — and in extraordinarily compelling circumstances — will we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, reverse a district court's on-the-spot judgment concerning the relative weighing of probative value and unfair effect.' United States v. Pitrone, 115 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.1997) (quoting Freeman v. Package Mach. Co., 865 F.2d 1331, 1340 (1st Cir.1988)). Here, the government has been unable to explain why the jury needed to see the actual weapons, beyond the usual corroborative purpose served by the introduction of the objects themselves. By the same token, however, we see no unfair prejudice from the introduction of the guns and the fake bomb into evidence. The district court instructed the jury that there was no evidence that Perrotta had possessed the guns illegally, and there was testimony that the bomb was a fake. Nothing in the record suggests that the guns or the fake bomb would have inflamed the jury or inspired them to decide the case on an emotional basis. See Varoudakis, 233 F.3d at 122 (Usually, courts use the term `unfair prejudice' for evidence that invites the jury to render a verdict on an improper emotional basis.). 56 Similarly, although the brass knuckles and billy club were surely unfamiliar items to the jurors, 10 and were real rather than fake, we again see nothing in the record to suggest that the brass knuckles and billy club would have inflamed the jury to decide the case on an emotional basis. See id. We therefore conclude that the district court did not abuse its broad discretion in admitting the weapons seized from Perrotta into evidence.