Conviction Reversed on Bad 404(b) Evidence in Drug Case
Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of Farrin Lee Felton after the Court determined that the trial court in Kalkaska County had impermissibly allowed the introduction of MRE 404(b) evidence in Felton's drug delivery trial. After the defendant and two others were pulled over by the the police, the officers arrested the driver, Johnson, for driving on a suspended license. Upon searching him, the officers discovered a quantity of cocaine and heroin secreted in his underwear. Johnson was charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams. He worked out a deal with the prosecution where his two 20-year felonies would be reduced to simple possession with a sentence agreement of probation under Sec. 7411, in exchange for his testimony that Felton, the back seat passenger, was the person actually guilty of possessing with intent to deliver the drugs and that he had given them to Johnson to hide when the trio was pulle...