Opinion ID: 415511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the refusal to allow the jury to smell the bale.

Text: 14 Michelena-Orovio next contends that the district court erred in refusing his request to permit the jury to smell one of the 363 bales of marijuana. He argues that the evidence was probative on the issue of whether marijuana could be smelled aboard the ALEX LUZ at the time of boarding. 15 The ruling was not in error. Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides in pertinent part that relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury. The district court properly excluded the evidence because the conditions of the proposed experiment differed substantially from those aboard the ALEX LUZ. The marijuana was then one year old and the courtroom experiment would have involved only one bale, not the 363 bales found on the vessel. The experiment was to take place in a courtroom rather than on a small vessel at sea. We have held that it is proper to refuse to allow such an experiment if the conditions of the proposed experiment differ substantially from those existing at the time the officer smelled the marijuana. See United States v. Cantu, 5 Cir.1977, 555 F.2d 1327; United States v. Torres, 5 Cir.1976, 537 F.2d 1299; United States v. Vallejo, 5 Cir.1976, 541 F.2d 1164. 16