United States v. Lykins, 544 F. App'x 642

Defendant James Lykins was convicted by jury of manufacturing methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm, with related sentencing.
He previously pleaded guilty in 2004 to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, receiving 60 months’ imprisonment and five years’ supervised release.
As a condition of supervised release, he allowed probation officers to visit at home and submit to searches, including at his residence.
In October 2011, a probation visit led to a full search of his home, yielding methamphetamine manufacturing evidence and a .38 revolver.
The search occurred without a warrant; the district court denied a suppression motion and the government later sought to introduce 404(b) evidence of his 2004 conviction; trial included a limiting instruction about the suppression issue and the court denied a lesser-included-offense instruction for simple possession.
On appeal, the court affirms the conviction, finds an abuse of discretion in the suppression-related remark to the jury, and discusses the admissibility of 404(b) evidence and jury instructions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the warrantless search of Lykins’s home on supervised release was lawful	Lykins argues the search violated Fourth Amendment limits	Lykins contends the search exceeded allowable scope or standard	Search upheld under totality of circumstances; probable cause or reasonable suspicion supported per Knights framework; district court not clearly erroneous on facts.
Whether 404(b) evidence of the 2004 conviction was admissible	Lykins contends it was unfairly prejudicial and improper for knowledge/intent	State argues it showed knowledge, intent, and pattern consistent with manufacturing methamphetamine	Admissible under Rule 404(b) for intent/knowledge; probative value outweighed prejudice; proper limiting instructions provided.
Whether the district court’s limiting instruction about D’Alessandro’s testimony was proper	Instruction improperly disclosed suppression motion and invaded jury’s consideration	limiting instruction adequate to preserve credibility assessment	district court abused its discretion; error harmless given extensive evidence of manufacturing; no reversal required.
Whether the court should have instructed on simple possession as a lesser included offense	Defendant sought lesser-included offense instruction	Simple possession is a lesser included offense	Not entitled to instruction; elements of simple possession are not a subset of manufacturing elements.

United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112 (U.S. 2001) (reasonable-suspicion standard for searches incident to supervised-release conditions)
United States v. Johnson, 529 U.S. 53 (U.S. 2000) (supervised release search standards and privacy interests)
United States v. Brooks, 594 F.3d 488 (6th Cir. 2010) (probable cause for searches in methamphetamine cases; corroboration of odor/precursors)
United States v. Elkins, 300 F.3d 638 (6th Cir. 2002) (probable-cause-like analysis for searches tied to methamphetamine activity)
United States v. Crumb, 287 Fed.Appx. 511 (6th Cir. 2008) (collection of cases addressing probative value of prior acts (non-official reporter note))
United States v. Hofstatter, 8 F.3d 316 (6th Cir. 1993) (prior manufacturing knowledge probative on knowledge/intent)
United States v. Ismail, 756 F.2d 1253 (6th Cir. 1985) (no absolute time limit between prior act and charged offense for Rule 404(b))
Schmuck v. United States, 489 U.S. 705 (1989) (elements-based test for lesser-included offenses)
United States v. Brown, 147 F.3d 477 (6th Cir. 1998) (Brown factors for Rule 403 balancing in 404(b))
United States v. Ayoub, 498 F.3d 532 (6th Cir. 2007) (two-and-three-part test for admissibility of other-acts evidence)
United States v. Allen, 619 F.3d 518 (6th Cir. 2010) (abuse-of-discretion review for 404(b) admissibility)
United States v. Blumer, 799 F.3d 455 (6th Cir. 2015) ((additional cited principle as applicable))