NY1: A prior search admissible to show knowledge and lack of mistake when entrapment is raised

Defendant was a police officer charged with engaging in drug transactions. The defense was entrapment. A prior search warrant for drugs at an aunt’s apartment was admissible [404(b)] on the entrapment claim where she was present but not charged. People v. Stroud, 2021 NY Slip Op 00375, 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 368 (1st Dept. Jan. 21, 2021):

The court providently exercised its discretion in admitting testimony about a prior incident in which defendant was present when the police executed a search warrant and recovered drugs at her aunt’s apartment. This evidence was highly probative to explain how defendant, a police officer, became the target of an undercover drug operation, and to prevent unfair speculation by the jury in that regard (see People v Morris, 21 NY3d 588 [2013]). The probative value of the evidence outweighed any prejudicial effect.