Drug Conviction Reversed Because of 404(b) Error

U.S. v. McNeil, 2005 WL 1415567 (6/17/05)(unpub'd) - A rare conviction reversal!!! In a PCP case, the d.ct. allowed for 404(b) purposes the introduction of the defendant's prior cocaine distribution conviction without any indication that the facts were similar to the facts in the instant case. The 10th relied on a 1972 en banc 10th Circuit case, U.S. v. Burkhart, 458 F.2d 201, to hold that the prior conviction was inadmissible and highly prejudicial. The 10th quoted Burkhart; "Once prior convictions are introduced the trial is, for all practical purposes, completed and the guilty outcome follows as a mere formality." You don't hear that every day.