Opinion ID: 687313
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Salvador's evidentiary challenges.

Text: 29 Salvador contends that evidence about the marijuana and gun was inadmissible character evidence. He also claims that the evidence was unduly prejudicial, such that its admission was barred by Fed.R.Evid. 403. But Salvador has not shown that the district court abused its discretion when it admitted this evidence. 30 The trial court admitted evidence about the marijuana found in Salvador's apartment on the theory that it was intricately related to the events which led to Salvador's arrest and indictment. Under the intricately related doctrine, evidence of uncharged criminal activity is admissible, even if it does not satisfy the requirements of Fed.R.Evid. 404(b), if that evidence is intricately related to the facts of the case before the court. United States v. Hargrove, 929 F.2d 316, 320 (7th Cir.1991); see also United States v. Elder, 16 F.3d 733, 737 (7th Cir.1994). On appeal, Salvador argues that evidence concerning the 64 pounds of marijuana was not intricately related to the cocaine conspiracy for which he was charged. Therefore, he argues, the evidence about the marijuana was evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts, that could only be admitted if it satisfied the requirements for admission under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). 31 Salvador's argument is unavailing, however, because this court has never held that evidence of uncharged crimes cannot be admitted under under the intricately related doctrine. Rather, the question is whether the evidence is properly admitted to provide the jury with a complete story of the crime [on] trial, United States v. Roberts, 933 F.2d 517, 520 (7th Cir.1991) (internal quotations omitted, brackets in the original), whether its absence would create a chronological or conceptual void in the story of the crime, see United States v. Hattaway, 740 F.2d 1419, 1424-25 (7th Cir.1984); United States v. Adamo, 882 F.2d 1218, 1234 (7th Cir.1989), or whether it is so blended or connected that it incidentally involves, explains the circumstances surrounding, or tends to prove any element of, the charged crime. United States v. Bucey, 876 F.2d 1297, 1315 (7th Cir.1987). Thus, cases applying the intricately related doctrine have recognized that evidence concerning the chronological unfolding of events that led to an indictment, or other circumstances surrounding the crime, is not evidence of other acts within the meaning of Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). See United States v. Zarnes, 33 F.3d 1454, 1469 (7th Cir.1994) (evidence of drug transactions completed before conspiracy began was intricately related to conspiracy case because it showed how the relationship between the parties began and blossomed into the charged conspiracy); United States v. Diaz, 994 F.2d 393, 395 (7th Cir.1993) (same); Hilgeford, 7 F.3d 1340, 1345-46 (7th Cir.1993) (evidence of defendant's litigation concerning ownership of farm lost in foreclosure was intricately related to subsequent prosecution for filing false tax returns where knowledge of nonownership was at issue); Hargrove, 929 F.2d at 320 (evidence concerning pager, cash, and drug reaction of dog when car was searched was intricately related to conspiracy, even where defendant was arrested 10 months after end of charged conspiracy); Roberts, 933 F.2d at 519-20 (evidence that police saw defendant throw weapon away during attempted getaway from foiled drugstore hold-up was intricately related to prosecution for armed bank robbery and illegal possession of a firearm two days earlier). 32 In this case, evidence about the marijuana was properly considered intricately related to the facts which gave rise to Salvador's indictment. See Hargrove, 929 F.2d at 320. The marijuana was found in Salvador's apartment as part of the search incident to his arrest, and the evidence was directly relevant to his claim that he was an innocent bystander rather than a member of the conspiracy. See, e.g., Elder, 16 F.3d 733, 737 (7th Cir.1994) (evidence that defendant possessed shotgun on prior occasions intricately related to charge of possession on a specific date, especially where defendant asserted that he was only in momentary possession of the shotgun on the date charged for the purpose of turning in the weapon ). The evidence was also directly relevant to the government's claim that Salvador participated in the conspiracy by allowing his apartment to be used as a safe house where the drug transaction could be consummated. See United States v. Angulo-Lopez, 7 F.3d 1506, 1511 (10th Cir.1993) (owners of safe houses had an integral role in cocaine conspiracy); United States v. Crespo De Llano, 838 F.2d 1006, 1017 (9th Cir.1987) (statement that defendant's apartment was used as safe house was properly considered in furtherance of cocaine conspiracy). In short, the evidence about the marijuana gave the jury a more, not less, accurate picture of the circumstances surrounding Salvador's arrest and the charged crime. This was not the introduction of evidence concerning acts wholly unrelated to the case which the prohibition of character evidence contained in Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) is designed to prevent. Rather, it evidenced Salvador's role as a facilitator who provided a safe location for the drug transaction: a location obviously used to facilitate other drug transactions as well. 33 Salvador also argues that the evidence concerning the marijuana was unduly prejudicial and should have been excluded under Fed.R.Evid. 403. Evidence that is intricately related to the facts of the case is admissible so long as it satisfies Fed.R.Evid. 403. Hargrove, 929 F.2d at 320; Elder, 16 F.3d at 737. We agree with the trial court that the probative value of this evidence outweighed any risk of unfair prejudice. The evidence directly addressed Salvador's argument that he was an innocent bystander to the drug transaction, and its probative value far outweighed any chance that the jury would convict Salvador for dealing marijuana as opposed to conspiring with Augustine and Salcido to purchase 25 kilograms of cocaine. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted this evidence. 34 Similarly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted evidence about the pistol found in the apartment. Here, the trial court admitted evidence about the gun under the tools of the trade theory. See United States v. Nava-Salazar, 30 F.3d 788, 798 (7th Cir.1994). And this court has recognized that weapons are tools of the narcotics trade such that this evidence is admissible. Alvarez, 860 F.2d at 829-30. Salvador's argument that the gun was too remote to be a tool of the trade defies common sense and precedent. See Alvarez, 860 F.2d at 830 (gun found under bedroom mattress is properly admitted as tool of the trade); United States v. Rush, 890 F.2d 45, 49 (7th Cir.1989) (rejecting argument that gun hidden in defendant's car could not be considered a tool of the trade because the defendant was not in the car at the time of his arrest). The district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted evidence concerning the semi-automatic pistol and ammunition found in Salvador's apartment.