United States v. Erramilli

Erramilli (defendant) reached into a seated passenger's shorts and squeezed her inner thigh during a crowded flight; the victim, Susan Domino, protested and her husband alerted flight attendants. Erramilli was prosecuted for nonconsensual sexual contact. Over his objection, the trial judge admitted evidence of two prior convictions for similar in-flight incidents from 1999 and 2002, both of which Erramilli admitted involved his desire for sexual self-gratification. He argued the evidence should have been excluded under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 as unfairly prejudicial.