United States v. Gerald Mark Williams

Gerald Mark Williams was convicted by a jury of two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. See 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) (1988). Although Williams himself placed his prior narcotics conviction before the jury during direct examination, he challenges the district court’s in limine ruling that evidence of the conviction would be admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 609(a)(1) if offered by the prosecution. He also appeals the court’s decision to sentence him under the mandatory minimum ten-year sentence provision of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (b)(1)(B), rather than under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742 and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

Admissibility of the Prior Conviction

The district court ruled in limine that the prosecution could admit into evidence for impeachment purposes under Rule 609(a)(1) Williams’s prior state conviction for possession of marijuana for sale. Faced with this adverse ruling, defense counsel informed the court that she would elicit the fact of the prior conviction during her direct examination of Williams, which she later did. The prosecution did not refer to the prior conviction at trial, so…