United States v. Opager

589 F.2d 799 (5th Cir. 1979)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Opager (D) sold a pound of cocaine to two undercover officers and a government informant. D was convicted of knowingly and intentionally possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and knowingly and intentionally distributing cocaine. D claimed entrapment during the trial. The informant testified that he had observed her engaged in transactions in the past. On cross-examination, the informant claimed that he had worked at a beauty salon with D in 1974 and again in 1976 and both times, he had seen D use and sell cocaine. D presented five witnesses to attack, the informant’s credibility. D also offered business records from the salon to show that the informant had not worked there in 1974. Those were ruled inadmissible under 608(b). The court did admit two canceled checks to show when the informant had actually started to work at the salon, but there is no record that the checks were ever used at trial.