United States v. Larry Duane Sioux

We are called upon to decide whether Federal Rule of Evidence 413 permits the admission of propensity evidence detailing sexual misconduct that occurred subsequent to the event giving rise to a pending trial.

I

On or about February 2, 2001, H.H. and several of her underage friends were drinking at an abandoned house on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. In the wee hours of the morning, somebody at the party said that he thought he heard the police coming. As the party-goers scattered, H.H. hid in a dark bedroom in the back of the house and soon passed out.

H.H. eventually awoke to find herself naked, with Larry Sioux holding her down and having sexual intercourse with her. Through tears, she told Sioux to stop and attempted to push him away, but he held his hand over her mouth and continued to rape her. Finally, somebody came into the room and pulled Sioux off of H.H. A few days later, H.H. told her school counselor that she had been raped at the party. The counselor made a formal report to her assistant principal, who in turn contacted tribal services to commence a full investigation.

On January 17, 2002, a federal grand jury handed down a single…