Opinion ID: 180930
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prior Police Encounters Properly Admitted as Direct Evidence

Text: Adams had contact with the police on March 27, 2002; May 18, 2004; and June 1, 2006. At trial, the district court admitted testimony regarding these incidents from both civilians and police officers. On appeal, Adams argues that the district court erred in admitting this testimony, because the evidence was impermissibly used for propensity purposes in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). As an initial matter, the parties dispute the relevant standard of review applicable to the evidentiary rulings. If a party makes a timely, specific objection to the evidence in question, we consider that objection to be preserved on appeal and review the district court's ruling for abuse of discretion. United States v. Whitaker, 127 F.3d 595, 601 (7th Cir.1997) (in order to preserve the evidentiary argument on appeal, the party must stat[e] the specific ground of objection, if the specific ground is not apparent from the context). If no such objection is made, we review the decision for plain error. United States v. Garcia, 580 F.3d 528, 536 (7th Cir.2009). Here, the government argues that Adams's defense counsel's objections at trial were not specific enough to preserve the Rule 404(b) ground and warrant the more demanding abuse of discretion standard. We doubt that Adams's general or relevancy objections to the testimony about prior drug-related events were specific enough to preserve Rule 404(b) grounds, United States v. Gibson, 170 F.3d 673, 677-78 (7th Cir.1999), but even if we assume Adams preserved the argument, it fails. Adams contends that the district court erred in admitting evidence of his prior arrests, because the evidence served no real purpose other than to demonstrate his propensity to commit the crimes, a purpose prohibited by Rule 404(b). Adams also argues that even if the evidence was admissible, it was unfairly prejudicial and should have been excluded. Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) excludes evidence used to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). Notably, Rule 404(b) only applies to [e]vidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. ... Id. (emphasis added). So, if the evidence is admitted as direct evidence of the charged offense, Rule 404(b) is not applicable. See United States v. Alviar, 573 F.3d 526, 538 (7th Cir.2009). Specifically, evidence directly pertaining to the defendant's role in a charged conspiracy is not excluded by Rule 404(b). Id. Of course, Rule 403 may continue to protect the defendant against admission of the evidence if it would be unduly prejudicial. Fed.R.Evid. 403. Rule 404(b) has no role to play here, because all the challenged evidence is direct evidence of Adams's role in the charged conspiracy and not propensity evidence. The circumstances of the March 27, 2002 arrest directly relate to the indictment's conspiracy count charging that Adams had been involved in a conspiracy with other people from at least 2001 to June 13, 2006. The testimony showed that Adams occupied a car containing cocaine and had a large amount of cash folded into $100 sections. The evidence directly supported the conspiracy charge by showing his involvement in conditions highly probative of conspiratorial drug distribution, namely large amounts of cocaine and cash arranged in specific monetary increments. See, e.g., United States v. Penny, 60 F.3d 1257, 1263 (7th Cir.1995) (finding evidence of unexplained wealth probative of drug conspiracy); United States v. Zarnes, 33 F.3d 1454, 1465 (7th Cir.1994) (finding evidence of large drug quantities to indicate a conspiracy). Adams maintains that this 2002 arrest should be irrelevant, because he did not meet some of his co-conspirators until 2004. There is no requirement, however, that a conspiracy involve exactly the same parties for the entire length of its existence. See United States v. Kincannon, 567 F.3d 893, 898-99 (7th Cir.2009); United States v. Townsend, 924 F.2d 1385, 1389-90 (7th Cir.1991) ([T]he government doesn't have to prove with whom a defendant conspired; it need only prove that the defendant joined the agreement alleged, not the group.). Evidence from 2002 is certainly relevant to the charged conspiracy (which began in at least 2001 and involved other people according to the indictment), regardless of which specific co-conspirators were involved during the early years. The government elicited testimony that Adams began dealing crack in 2001, which supported its charge that he was engaged in conspiracy to distribute drugs at that time. Even though Adams was not yet involved with all of his eventual co-conspirators at the time of his arrest in 2002, the circumstances of that arrest are directly relevant to the charged conspiracy to distribute drugs beginning in at least 2001. Next, Adams challenges testimony from Laurel Smith and Officer Eric Schaver regarding his May 18, 2004 arrest. Like the 2002 arrest, this testimony also provides direct evidence of the charged conspiracy. Smith testified that she was a regular customer of Adams. On one occasion, she had loaned her car to Adams in exchange for crack cocaine. Smith stated that when Adams did not return the car as expected, she called a tip into the police. Other witnesses testified that they had fronted drugs to Adams around May 2004. Therefore, Smith's testimony that Adams provided her with crack cocaine supports the government's argument that Adams was re-distributing cocaine and is directly relevant to the charged conspiracy. The arresting officer testified he found cash and crack cocaine in Adams's pockets. This testimony is circumstantial evidence of the drug conspiracy itself, not a different crime, wrong, or act excluded by Rule 404(b). Finally, the government presented testimony relating to Adams's June 1, 2006 arrest. The arresting officer testified that he found a crack pipe and a large amount of cash folded in bundles on Adams's person. He also testified that Adams discussed his crack addiction and plans to purchase more crack cocaine. This is also direct evidence of the conspiracy, because crack cocaine paraphernalia and cash folded into specific increments are circumstantial evidence of a drug distribution conspiracy. See e.g., Penny, 60 F.3d at 1263; Zarnes, 33 F.3d at 1465. We think it is a much closer question whether the evidence of these prior arrests and drug-related events should have been excluded under Rule 403. Even when the testimony is direct evidence of the charged conspiracy and Rule 404(b) is not involved, Rule 403 would still protect Adams against evidence that is unduly prejudicial. See United States v. Sophie, 900 F.2d 1064, 1074 (7th Cir.1990). We remain wary of the potential for unfair prejudice in the admission of prior criminal acts, Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 185, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997); United States v. Avila, 557 F.3d 809, 818 (7th Cir.2009), and we agree with the defendant that many of the details of the police encounters were unnecessary to get into evidence facts regarding Adams's possession of large amounts of crack and cash. For example, during Officer Schaver's testimony regarding the May 18, 2004 arrest, he referred to his familiarity with Adams's mug shot and home address from past police responses. Further, we question whether any details of the arrests were needed to get in the evidence about drug amounts and cash bundles. The court should have directed witnesses to avoid discussing details of any arrests and to testify only to the drug amounts and cash bundles found on Adams on the relevant dates. However, the prosecution did focus its examination on the drug amounts and cash bundles found on Adams, and not on any results of the police encounters. In light of the balancing test required under Rule 403, and cognizant of the wide discretion a district court has to make evidentiary rulings, the district court did not err by determining the probative value of the evidence to be greater than its prejudicial effect. The jurors were likely already aware that Adams had a mug shot and they were most certainly aware of his extensive prior contact with police from his trial stipulations of the various periods of time spent incarcerated. In the stipulation given to the jury and again during the closing remarks, Adams admitted to each time he was incarcerated during the period of the alleged conspiracy. This was an extensive list: for example, he was incarcerated for various arrests during the majority of the year 2004. The evidence in question was directly related to the charged conspiracy, should not have been excluded under Rule 404(b) as prior bad act evidence, and was not unduly prejudicial under Rule 403. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence regarding Adams's possession of cocaine, large amounts of cash, and distribution habits during the time of the charged conspiracy.