United States v. Joseph Evans, Sr.

OPINION

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

In these consolidated appeals, we clarify the limits of a trial court’s authority under Federal Rules of Evidence 104 and 403 to exclude relevant evidence when the court questions the credibility of such evidence. In two separate cases, the government charged defendant Joseph Anderson Evans, Sr., with being an alien in the United States after deportation, as well as misrepresenting his identity and citizenship to fraudulently obtain supplemental social security benefits, acquire food stamps, make a claim of citizenship, and apply for a passport. Evans’s primary…