United States v. Hall, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 23609

Hall was convicted of bank robbery in 2006 and related felon-in-possession charges; the indictment alleged two prior felony bank robberies (1984, 1992) as predicate offenses; Hall stipulated to two prior felonies, avoiding government proof of those convictions; during voir dire the court read the indictment including specific robbery allegations; defense moved for mistrial which the court denied; trial evidence included 1984 and 1992 robberies and alibi evidence, plus physical and forensic evidence tying Hall to the crime; the government also presented evidence of a prior-bank-robbery history to rebut the alibi and the defense’s framing of Hall’s actions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the mistrial denial was harmless error	Hall	Hall argues error affected substantial rights	Harmless error; convictions upheld
Whether cross-examination of prior offenses exceeded court scope	Hall	Hall challenged scope	Plain error not shown to substantially prejudice Hall
Whether closing arguments referencing prior convictions were proper	Hall	Hall challenged improper references	Not plainly improper; harmless in context
Whether the overall error was plain and affected substantial rights	Hall	Plain-error standard applied	No plain-error requiring reversal; harmless overall

Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172 (U.S. 1997) (stips to prior conviction to avoid admitting details under Rule 404(b))
Patterson, 561 F.3d 1170 (10th Cir. 2009) (harmless-error review when error does not affect substantial rights)
Rivera, 900 F.2d 1462 (10th Cir. 1990) (substantial-rights standard for nonconstitutional error)
Caraway, 534 F.3d 1290 (10th Cir. 2008) (plain-error review for prosecutorial misconduct when not objected to)
Hernandez-Muniz, 170 F.3d 1007 (10th Cir. 1999) (prosecutorial latitude in arguing prior criminal history)
Short, 947 F.2d 1445 (10th Cir. 1991) (harmless/error analysis when scope exceeded)