United States v. Jared C. Beckman

291 F.3d 586 United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jared C. Beckman, Defendant-Appellant. No. 01-50288. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 5, 2002 — Pasadena, California. Filed May 21, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED J. Michael Roake (argued), Roake & Roake, San Diego, California, for the defendant-appellant. Patrick K. O'Toole, United States Attorney, Pennie M. Carlos (on the brief), Assistant United States Attorney, Scott H. Saham (argued), Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, San Diego, California, for the plaintiff-appellee. Before: Michael Daly Hawkins and Raymond C. Fisher, Circuit Judges, and Charles R. Weiner, * District Judge. OPINION HAWKINS, Circuit Judge: 1 Jared Beckman ("Beckman") appeals his conviction after a jury trial for importation of marijuana, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. We must decide whether the government improperly cross-examined Beckman with a prior arrest and conviction under the guise of attacking Beckman's credibility. We must also consider several other trial court rulings to which Beckman assigns error. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28…