DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
101283P.pdf 02/22/2011 United States v. Allen Shillingstad
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 10-1283
U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Pierre
[PUBLISHED] [Colloton, Author, with Smith and Shepherd, Circuit Judges]
Criminal case - criminal law and sentencing. District court did not err
in admitting evidence of defendant's prior tribal convictions for
assaulting the victim pursuant to Rule 404(b) as the close similarity of the
incidents made the evidence especially probative on the question of
defendant's intent and the absence of accident, and the district court gave
proper limiting instructions; any error in permitting the government to
question a defense witness, defendant's mother, about his prior offenses
against her was harmless as it did not have a substantial influence on the
verdict; no error in refusing to admit a paramedic's testimony as to a prior
inconsistent by the victim as she was unable to recall the statement
because of the facts that she had consumed alcohol and had suffered a
significant trauma; district court did not abuse its discretion or commit a
procedural error when it departed upward from criminal history category I
to category III.