United States v. Ellis, No. 15-2243 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon, possessing heroin with intent to distribute, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. The court concluded that the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to convict defendant of the firearm and heroine possession charges. The court rejected defendant's claim that the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of his 1996 state felony conviction for possessing heroin with intent to deliver under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) where the prior-crimes evidence was relevant, probative, and not too remote in time to the instant offense, and because any potentially unfair prejudicial impact was mitigated by the district court’s limiting instruction. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Wollman, Author, with Bright and Loken, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The evidence was sufficient to support defendant's convictions on drug and firearms charges; no error in admitting evidence of defendant's 1996 state court heroin conviction where defendant denied any knowledge of the presence of the heroin recovered from his vehicle and denied possessing or distributing heroin; the conviction was relevant and probative on the issues of knowledge, intent, and lack of mistake and was not too remote in time. Judge Bright, concurring in part but dissenting as to whether the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. [ March 17, 2016
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