United States v. Cassell, Dwayne

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• explaining that evidence of prior convictions for gun possession made it less probable that the defendant was unaware of the weapons discovered in his room
• stating that “where a defendant is charged with unlawful possession of something, evidence that he possessed the same or similar things at other times is often quite relevant to his knowledge and intent with regard to the crime charged” (quotation simplified)
• admitting prior firearm convictions when firearms were recovered from defendant’s uncle’s apartment and defendant claimed firearms belonged to his uncle
• “It is fundamental to the criminal law of the United States that the prosecution must prove every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.”
• “[A]ny purpose for which bad-acts evidence is introduced is a proper purpose so long as the evidence is not offered solely to prove character.”
• fact that defendant previously possessed weapons “tends to make it less probable that the weapons recovered from his bedroom were there without his knowledge, without intent, or by accident or mistake”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).