United States Eighth Circuit

Defendants' drug conspiracy convictions are affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting wiretapped phone recordings, because the danger of unfair prejudice did not substantially outweigh their probative value on the issue of defendant's involvement in the conspiracy; 2) any error in introducing evidence concerning one defendant's prior arrests was harmless because they did not have a substantial influence on the jury's verdict; 3) the various defendants, all of whom were alleged to be members of the same overarching conspiracy, were properly joined; and 4) the mere fact that one defendant was unaware of the more distant members of the chain-conspiracy does not defeat the conspiracy charge.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/04/2010
• Published 03/04/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel