“Prior Bad Acts” Evidence In Drug Trafficking Cases
When a person faces trial for drug trafficking in Florida, they can generally assume that only the facts in their current case will be used in the trial. While this is usually true under state law, there are provisions in federal law that allow past bad acts to be admissible as evidence. If you have been charged with drug trafficking, and your case has been removed to federal court, it is important to understand how evidence of character can be used against you.
Character vs Motive
Federal law and most, though not all states’ laws (including Florida) explicitly prohibit using evidence of prior bad acts to establish the character of a defendant. In other words, if a defendant has a past history of fraud, a state’s attorney cannot bring this up to show that the defendant must be lying now in court – doing so would be unfair to the defendant, and might conceivably result in a mistrial because a jury would be too prejudiced by the evidence to ignore the defendant’s past history.
That said, the Rules of Evidence do state that in federal court, character evidence or evidence of prior bad acts can be used in order to establish ‘motive, opportunity, intent, knowledge, or the absence of a mistake.’ In short, the defendant’s character can be used as evidence to argue any of these categories. For example, a defendant with a history of selling drugs to minors who are on trial for the same offense might see his past criminal record introduced into evidence in order to try and establish intent, rather than general bad character.
Know Your Rights
What all this means for a person who has been charged with drug trafficking is that it is important to have a knowledgeable attorney on your side who can ensure that evidence of past bad acts is only used for its legally appropriate purposes. It can unfortunately be too easy for evidence intended to establish motive or opportunity to morph into a metaphorical indictment of the defendant which can be highly prejudicial.
It is important to remember that the Federal Rules of Evidence state clearly that even evidence that might be highly probative (that is, relevant and persuasive) can be excluded if the danger of creating unfair prejudice is too high – but you need someone on your side who can successfully debate what is and is not probative. Regardless of the charge, criminal defendants have rights that cannot be ignored for the sake of expediency.
Contact A West Palm Beach Drug Trafficking Attorney
If you have been charged with drug trafficking, a West Palm Beach drug trafficking attorney from Perlet & Shiner, P.A. will work hard to guide you through the legal process, whether in state or federal court. We are here to help – contact our office today to speak to an attorney.
