United States v. Cunningham
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
103 F.3d 553 (7th Cir. 1996)
Cunningham (defendant), a nurse, was charged with tampering with syringes containing the painkiller Demerol. She admitted at trial that she was a former Demerol addict. To show her motive for the tampering, the prosecution introduced evidence that her nursing license had previously been suspended for stealing Demerol and that she had falsified drug-test results to get the license reinstated; the judge admitted this evidence but excluded evidence of her actual conviction for that conduct. Cunningham was convicted of tampering and appealed, arguing the license-suspension and drug-test evidence was improperly admitted.
Whether evidence of a defendant's prior license suspension for drug theft and falsification of drug tests is admissible to prove her motive to tamper with drug-filled syringes.