United States Tenth Circuit

In the U.S.'s appeal, in a capital murder matter, of the district court's order excluding evidence that defendant had been responsible for prior murders, the order is reversed where: 1) the federal government sought to introduce evidence that defendant committed the prior murders only for the purpose of proving a non-statutory aggravating factor for sentencing for the murder presently at issue; 2) the district court abused its discretion in concluding that, in this case, any evidence of the double homicide posed such a great risk of unfair prejudice that it outweighed its high probative value; and 3) the district court could limit any prejudice with an instruction to the jury.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/29/2010
• Published 04/29/2010

Judges

• EBEL, Circuit Judge., Before HENRY, Chief Judge, EBEL, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David N. Williams, Assistant United States Attorney (Gregory J. Fouratt, United States Attorney, with him on the briefs), Albuquerque, NM, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Marc. H. Robert, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Cruces, NM, for Defendant-Appellee.