United States v. Vance
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
764 F.3d 667 (2014)
David Vance (defendant) robbed two banks and murdered a man during the second robbery. At trial, an accomplice testified about an unrelated string of restaurant robberies the trio committed the night before the bank robberies, using methods that matched what eyewitnesses described from the bank robberies and murder. Other witnesses and DNA evidence also linked Vance to the crimes. Vance was convicted and appealed, arguing the accomplice's testimony about the restaurant robberies was inadmissible propensity evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b).
Whether Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) prohibits introducing evidence of a defendant's other crimes to show he had a propensity to commit the charged offense.