United States v. Felipe Guzman Santa-Cruz

Santa-Cruz was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a). He appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court erred by admitting evidence of his prior possession of a personal use amount of cocaine under Fed. R.Evid. 404(b) and 403. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

BACKGROUND

In October 1992, Santa-Cruz was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and possessing one gram of cocaine. He was driving a blue Chevrolet. In January 1993, he and a codefendant were arrested after one of them pulled 165.4 grams of cocaine out from under the driver’s seat of the same car and gave it to a confidential informant.

At trial for the January 1993 incident, both the eodefendant and the informant testified that Santa-Cruz produced the cocaine. The codefendant also testified that he had frequently purchased small quantities of cocaine from Santa-Cruz. The United States introduced evidence of the October 1992 arrest of Santa-Cruz for possession of one gram of cocaine.

Both Santa-Cruz’s girlfriend and his aunt testified that they had never seen him in possession of drugs. He testified that, when he was…