USA v. Rodriguez, 98-2259
| Decision Date | 01 September 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-2259,98-2259 |
| Citation | 192 F.3d 946 |
| Parties | (10th Cir. 1999) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JESUS MANUEL RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Appellee |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. D.C. No. CR-98-436-LH
James R.W. Braun, Assistant United States Attorney (John J. Kelly, United States Attorney, with him on the briefs), Las Cruces, New Mexico , for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Barbara A. Mandel , Assistant Federal Public Defender (Ann Steinmetz, Federal Public Defender, and Shari Lynn Allison, Research and Writing Specialist, with her on the briefs), Las Cruces, New Mexico, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before BRORBY, EBEL and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
Appellant's motion to publish the order and judgment filed on September 1, 1999, is granted. The published opinion is attached to this order.
After indicting Defendant-Appellee Jesus Manuel Rodriguez ("Rodriguez") on one count of illegal importation and one count of illegal possession of marijuana, the government notified Rodriguez of its intent to introduce expert testimony as to the domestic street value of the 51 kilograms of marijuana that he was accused of illegally importing and possessing. Rodriguez filed a motion in limine pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 403 to exclude the government's expert testimony regarding the value of the seized marijuana, which the district court granted. The government appeals, and we reverse and remand.
On May 27, 1998, Rodriguez, driving alone in a 1992 Chevrolet truck that he did not own, entered the Columbus, New Mexico Port of Entry. There, Customs Inspector Fernando Vidalez had his suspicion piqued when he observed that the bolts to the gasoline tank had been recently removed. Using a fiber optic scope to probe the inside of the truck's gas tank, Inspector Vidalez noticed several packages wrapped in plastic. This led to a full-blown search of the truck's gas tank, which revealed 127 plastic-wrapped packages containing approximately 112 pounds (51 kilograms) of marijuana.
On June 17, 1998, Rodriguez was indicted on two drug related charges. Count I of the indictment charged Rodriguez with "unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally import[ing] 50 kilograms and more of marijuana . . . into the United States of America from . . . the Republic of Mexico," in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 960(a)(1) & (b)(3), and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Count II of the indictment charged Rodriguez with "unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally possess[ing] with intent to distribute 50 kilograms and more of marijuana," in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & (b)(1)(C), and 18 U.S.C.a§a2.
Prior to trial, the government notified Rodriguez that it intended to call expert witness United States Customs Special Agent Miguel Briseno to testify that the domestic street value of the 51 kilograms of seized marijuana was approximately $78,400. Rodriguez responded by filing a motion in limine to exclude the government's expert testimony pursuant to Fed R. Evid. 403. In the motion, Rodriguez maintained that the government sought to admit evidence regarding the value of the marijuana in order to establish that Rodriguez had the requisite knowledge of the drugs in the truck's gas tank. ("[T]he Government will argued [sic] that based on the value of the marijuana, no drug organization would entrust an amount of narcotics worth this much to someone who did not know the drugs were in the vehicle.") Rodriguez claimed, however, that the value of the seized marijuana was not relevant to the issue of his knowledge and that any probative value the expert testimony might have would be substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice.
The government responded to Rodriguez's motion in limine by arguing that: (1) Rodriguez's claim that the value of the seized marijuana was irrelevant to the issue of Rodriguez's knowledge was "directly contrary to Tenth Circuit authority," (citing United States v. Jones, 44 F.3d 860, 876 (10th Cir. 1995) ( that district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting testimony regarding the value of cocaine because "expert testimony regarding the value of drugs is relevant to prove the drugs were intended for distribution")); (2) the value testimony was highly probative of Rodriguez's knowledge because "it is reasonable to conclude that no one would allow a person to unknowingly drive around in a truck containing approximately $78,400.00 worth of marijuana," (citing United States v. Castro, 972 F.2d 1107, 1111 (9th Cir. 1992) ("Government experts testified that that amount of cocaine, valued in the millions of dollars, would have never been entrusted to an unknowing dupe.")); and (3) the probative value of the evidence was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or by considerations of economy of time, because testimony regarding the value of the marijuana would speak directly to whether Rodriguez knowingly imported and possessed the marijuana with the intent to distribute it, which was the central issue of the case.
On September 22, 1998, the district court granted Rodriguez's motion and ordered excluded "all testimony by expert witnesses regarding the street value of the drugs seized," under Fed. R. Evid. 403. In granting the motion, the district court stated:
[T]he Government's position that expert testimony as to the street value of the drugs seized demonstrates that Mr. Rodriguez knew the drugs were in the truck requires several inferential leaps. The Government's basic theory is that the drugs are so valuable that no one would entrust them to an unknowing dupe. Yet, the opposite inference is just as likely: the drugs at issue here are so valuable no one would knowingly drive them across the border himself. An individual who does not know the drugs are present is less likely to appear nervous when speaking with law enforcement officers and may therefore be more likely to successfully deliver the drugs. The opposite inference is based on the presumption that drug smugglers conduct their business with the same considerations as legitimate merchants or private individuals, a presumption which lacks an evidentiary foundation and belies common sense.
The links in the chain which would connect this expert testimony to Mr. Rodriguez's state of mind are weak and attenuated. The probative value of the evidence is accordingly relatively low.
Balanced against what the district court considered insubstantial probative value, the court recognized that "evidence of the street value of the drugs seized is likely to confuse, mislead and inflame the jury," because the expert testimony "may carry an extra authoritative weight in the minds of jurors, [and] risks that jurors will attach undue significance to the evidence or convict merely based on their belief that the defendant is somehow connected to a 'drug ring.'" Further, the district court observed: "The evidence presents a substantial risk of unfair prejudice in that it may lead the jury to convict because they believe that Mr. Rodriguez is a 'bad man' or is involved with 'serious drug dealers,' not because the Government has proved the offenses alleged beyond a reasonable doubt."
The day after the district court filed its order granting Rodriguez's motion, the government filed its notice of appeal in the district court, which contained a certification that the "appeal is not taken for purpose of delay and that the evidence suppressed is a substantial proof of fact material in the proceedings."1
We have jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731, and we now reverse and remand.
"We review a district court's decision on Rule 403 for abuse of discretion." United States v. Castillo, 140 F.3d 874, 884 (10th Cir. 1998). "However, despite the discretion afforded the district court, we have previously cautioned, 'Rule 403 is an extraordinary remedy and should be used sparingly.'" United States v. Roberts, 88 F.3d 872, 880 (10th Cir. 1996) (quoting Wheeler v. John Deere Co., 862 F.2d 1404, 1408 (10th Cir. 1988)).
The government asserts that the district court abused its discretion under Fed. R. Evid. 403 by excluding the proffered expert testimony as to the value of the marijuana seized from the gas tank of the truck that Rodriguez was driving. In resolving whether the district court abused its discretion in excluding the government's proffered evidence, we must examine the interplay of Fed. R. Evid. 401 and Fed. R. Evid. 403. Cf. United States v. Levine, 970 F.2d 681, 688-89 (10th Cir. 1992) ( .
Fed. R. Evid. 401 defines "relevant evidence" as "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Here, the government claims that the proffered expert testimony regarding the street value of the marijuana was relevant to prove that Rodriguez had knowledge of the presence of the marijuana in the truck that he was driving because no drug smuggler/dealer would place such a valuable load in the truck...
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