United States v. Mitchell

MEMORANDUM **

Devon Mitchell was convicted of bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a), armed bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a), (d), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c). The district court sentenced him to 162 months for each robbery count, to be served concurrently, and 60 months for possession of the firearm, consecutive to the robbery counts. He appeals from his judgment of conviction and sentence. We affirm.

“The district court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence and the balancing of probative value against prejudicial effect are reviewed for abuse of discretion.” United States v. Murillo, 288 F.3d 1126, 1139 (9th Cir.2002). Of the evidence to which Mitchell now objected, most of these objections were waived for failure to argue the objections in his opening brief. See United States v. Tisor, 96 F.3d 370, 376 (9th Cir.1996). Mitchell did preserve his objection to Ulonda Monroe’s testimony that Mitchell had told her he served time in prison for armed robbery, and to Monroe’s testimony that she, Mitchell, and Shannon Scott had traveled, before the robberies, to Page, Arizona to sell drugs. However, the district court did not…