United States v. Brown

5 F. Supp. 3d 786, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29982, 2014 WL 911933
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMarch 7, 2014
DocketCriminal No. 4:13cr110
StatusPublished

This text of 5 F. Supp. 3d 786 (United States v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Brown, 5 F. Supp. 3d 786, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29982, 2014 WL 911933 (E.D. Va. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION IN LIMINE TO EXCLUDE EVIDENCE OF NICKNAMES

ROBERT G. DOUMAR, Senior District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Kelvin Brown’s (“Defendant”) Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence of Nicknames (“Motion in Limine”). ECF No. 74. For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES the Defendant’s Motion in Li-mine.

I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Defendant was originally indicted on November 14, 2013, on various drug and firearms charges. Ind., ECF No. 1. However, on January 13, 2014, a superseding criminal indictment was filed against the Defendant, charging him with Drug Conspiracy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; two counts of Distribution of Cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C); Possession with Intent to Distribute 28 Grams or More of Cocaine Base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B)(iii); two counts of Possession of a Firearm in a Drug Trafficking Crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c); Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, in violation of 21 U;S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C); and Felon in Possession of a Firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Sup. Ind. 1-2, ECF No. 54.

In both indictments, the Defendant was charged as “Kelvin Brown, a/k/a/ Doom,” his alleged alias. On February 12, 2014, the Defendant filed the instant Motion in Limine asking the Court to exclude any evidence of this alleged nickname at trial as irrelevant and thus inadmissible under Federal Rules of Evidence 401 and 402, unfairly prejudicial under Federal Rule of Evidence 403, and inadmissible character evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(a). The Government filed a Response in opposition on February 18, 2014. ECF No. 79. The matter is now fully briefed and ripe for decision.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Evidence is relevant if it “has any tendency to make a fact [of consequence in determining the action] more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed.R.Evid. 401. Relevant evidence, as a general rule, is admissible. Fed.R.Evid. 402. However, the Court may exclude relevant evidence “if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of ... unfair prejudice.” Fed. R.Evid. 403. Additionally, “[ejvidence of a person’s character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance [788]*788with the character or trait.” Fed.R.Evid. 404(a).

The Government may introduce evidence of a defendant’s alias when its use is necessary to fully identify a defendant. United States v. Delpit, 94 F.3d 1134, 1146 (8th Cir.1996); see also United States v. Clark, 541 F.2d 1016, 1018 (4th Cir.1976) (holding that use of an alias is permissible when “the Government intends to introduce evidence of an alias and the use of that alias is necessary to identify the defendant in connection with the acts charged in the indictment”); United States v. Williams, 739 F.2d 297, 299 (7th Cir.1984) (“As many courts have recognized, a prosecutor may introduce evidence of a defendant’s alias or nickname if this evidence aids in the identification of the defendant or in some other way directly relates to the proof of the acts charged in the indictment.”). In order to make an alias relevant and its admission permissible, there must be proof of the alias and the alias must hold some relationship to the acts charged, e.g., it may be “part of [the Government’s] proof connecting the identity of the defendant” to the acts charged. Clark, 541 F.2d at 1018.

In contrast, admission of a defendant’s nickname is impermissible when used only to demonstrate that “the defendant ha[s] some sort of history or reputation for unsavory activity.” Williams, 739 F.2d at 299 (holding that detective’s testimony that he knew the defendant as “Fast Eddy,” which was “completely unrelated to any of the other proof’ against him, should not have been admitted); see also Clark, 541 F.2d at 1018 (holding that because the defendant’s alias “apparently served no purpose in the prosecution’s proof and bore no direct relationship to any of the acts charged,” it should not have been admitted).

The Eighth Circuit permitted evidence of the nickname “Monster” to be admitted at a trial when tape recorded conversations used the alias and there was no way the jury could make sense of them without allowing the Government to prove that the defendant was known by that moniker. Delpit, 94 F.3d at 1146 (“There was no way for the jury to avoid hearing Delpit’s nickname, because he was referred to in the wiretaps almost exclusively as ‘Monster.’ ”). The Eleventh Circuit permitted the Government to introduce evidence that a defendant was known by “Boss Man” as part of its case that he held a managerial role in a continuing criminal enterprise. United States v. Smith, 918 F.2d 1501, 1511 (11th Cir.1990) (holding that witnesses who only knew the defendant by that alias could use it to refer to him in testimony, and also that the nickname was relevant to the CCE charge).

However, the Second Circuit vacated an attempted murder conviction where the Government “invited prejudice” in its use of the defendant’s nickname, “Murder,” by rejecting the defendant’s offer to concede identity in order to obviate the need to prove the alias at trial, and also by using the nickname “promptly, repeatedly, and in ways calculated to intensify the prejudice.” United States v. Farmer, 583 F.3d 131, 135 (2nd Cir.2009).

When a defendant charged with a crime of violence is identified before a jury by a nickname that bespeaks guilt, violence, or depravity, the potential for prejudice is obvious. Before receiving such evidence over a defendant’s objection, a trial court should consider seriously whether the probative value is substantially outweighed by any danger of unfair prejudice, Fed.R.Evid. 403

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Related

United States v. Eddie Lee Williams
739 F.2d 297 (Seventh Circuit, 1984)
United States v. Farmer
583 F.3d 131 (Second Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Brodie
326 F. Supp. 2d 83 (District of Columbia, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
5 F. Supp. 3d 786, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29982, 2014 WL 911933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-brown-vaed-2014.