United States v. Terance Prigge

Terance Taylor Prigge appeals his conviction by jury trial for various drug traf ficking and money laundering offenses. Prigge asks that we reverse his conviction because of two alleged errors: (1) the district court’s failure in advance of trial to preclude the government from impeaching Prigge with his fourteen-year-old prior conviction if he testified; and (2) the district court’s refusal to sever three counts from the five-count indictment. We hold that Prigge’s first assignment of error is unreviewable on appeal because he did not testify and that the district court did not err in denying Prigge’s motion to sever counts because Prigge cannot show prejudice from joinder. We affirm.

I

The evidence at trial showed that Prigge engaged in a multi-year effort, involving his co-defendant, Matthew Gruender, prosecution witness Shane Grafman, and others, to move large quantities of Central American cocaine to Chicago by a common modus operandi — chartering private planes to land at outlying suburban airports to evade close law enforcement scrutiny. Although various players entered and exited the conspiracy during this period, the goals and methods of the conspiracy remained…