Evidence — gang affiliation

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Evidence — gang affiliation

Testimony regarding gang activity in an apartment did not violate an order that a party’s gang affiliation not be mentioned to the jury.

“[T]he magistrate granted Perry’s motion to bar reference to Perry’s gang membership without objection. Perry argues that Watts’s testimony that a bystander told him ‘gangbangers were running the guns and the drugs up into 527 East Browning’ violated this motion in limine and thus the failure to correct it constituted an abuse of discretion by the trial court.”

“The motion in limine, however, specifically barred reference to Perry’s gang membership. It did not address evidence of gang activity in 527 East Browning or apartment 501. Watts’s gangbangers statement did not explicitly refer to Perry’s own gang membership, and thus did not fall within the prior motion in limine ruling. Although it could be argued that the testimony would have allowed the jury to infer that Perry was also a gangbanger, we reverse for abuse of discretion only where ‘no reasonable person would agree with the trial court’s ruling.’ Aldridge v. Forest River, Inc., 635 F.3d 870, 875 (7th Cir. 2011).”

Affirmed.

10-3979 Perry v. City of Chicago

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Schenkier, Mag. J., Kanne, J.