Court Opinion

ID: 9484275
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:46:40.727982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:08.112314
License: Public Domain

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge
(Dissenting).
I dissent because the so-called “other act” evidence relating to a drug source unconnected to the facts of the present case and admitted under Federal Rules of Evidence 404(b), is nothing more than improper propensity or character evidence. I disagree with my colleagues in the majority that it is “farfetched” that this evidence influenced the jury in any way because Carty was acquitted of the cocaine charge. Ante, at 1009 n. 9. The objected evidence branded him as a drug dealer, not necessarily as the possessor of the small amount of cocaine found. As such a nefarious person, the jury could very well have believed that the firearms were his tools of the trade. The improper character evidence easily could have carried the day for the Government, considering the highly contradictory nature of the proof it presented. Ante, at 1004-1005. In view of the constitutional burden required of the Government in a criminal case, I fail to see why all the speculation regarding what the jury did or did not do with this improper evidence, should be weighted against defendant.
Appellant should be granted a new trial.