United States v. Miller

673 F.3d 688 (7th Cir. 2012)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Police obtained a search warrant and then raided a home where D and several other people were staying. Police searched the house and found several guns and a quantity of crack cocaine. The cocaine and a pistol were found close to some of d's personal effects in a room where he was alleged to be staying. D was tried and convicted of three offenses. At trial, the prosecution used Rule 404(b) to admit evidence that D had been convicted in 2000 of felony possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it. D was caught in 2000 with crack cocaine and pled guilty to felony possession with intent to distribute. The cocaine was also packaged in small plastic bags inside larger plastic bags - though D was of course not unusual in packaging drugs for sale in this way. When officers searched the house on April 21, 2008, they found crack cocaine packaged in plastic bags on the bed in D's alleged room. They also found a scale and similarly packaged cocaine in shoe boxes that also contained some of D's personal papers. D has never argued that the bags of drugs - some of which had price tags attached - were not intended for distribution. His defense at trial was instead that, despite the proximity to his personal effects, the drugs were not his and he was not staying in the room where the drugs and pistol were found. P used the details of the prior conviction for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute. D was convicted and appealed. Miller contends that the drug crime evidence from 2000 was substantially more prejudicial than it was probative. The only purpose for which it could have been used by the jury here was to draw an impermissible propensity inference.