Under this rule, the government may introduce evidence of a defendant's prior bad acts only "if it is relevant to something material other than criminal propensity." United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 512 (10th Cir. 1984). Rule 404(b) governs the admissibility of such evidence, providing that:

Huddleston v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 685, 108 S.Ct. 1496, 1499, 99 L.Ed.2d 771 (1988); see also United States v. Doran, 882 F.2d 1511, 1523 (10th Cir. 1989). Because "[e]vidence of prior criminal acts is almost always prejudicial to the defendant," United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 513 (10th Cir. 1984), the use of such evidence must be carefully circumscribed to protect the defendant from unfair prejudice. In Huddleston the Court stated:

Additionally, the State argues that the tape recordings are not offered to prove the truth of the conversations recorded on the tape, but instead are offered to show that the events occurred. The State relies upon U.S. v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510 (10th Cir. 1984), for this proposition. In Shepherd, the court held that a government witness' testimony that an individual gave him instructions to frighten another person was not hearsay. The court noted that an order or instruction is, by its nature, neither true nor false and thus cannot be offered for its truth.

Statement (4) was an order. See United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 514 (10th Cir. 1984) (orders are not hearsay because they are not offered for their truth). Statement (5) was irrelevant, and at most could have been offered to prove Embrey's state of mind.

My research has disclosed no departure from that principle, which has been confirmed and reconfirmed on a number of occasions. This Court spoke to the issue at somewhat greater length in United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 512-13 (10th Cir. 1984): This Court has affirmed convictions based upon uncorroborated accomplice testimony.

Rather the document is introduced for the inferences that may be drawn circumstantially from its existence or from where it is found, regardless of whether the assertions contained therein are true or not.United States v. Peveto, 881 F.2d 844, 853-54 (10th Cir.) (traffic ticket found in defendant's apartment, introduced to tie him to van containing contraband, was not introduced for the truth of the matter asserted on ticket that he had committed a traffic violation), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 943, 110 S.Ct. 348, 107 L.Ed.2d 336 (1989); United States v. Markopoulos, 848 F.2d 1036, 1039 (10th Cir. 1988) (spiral notebook entries offered as circumstantial evidence of conspiracy and not for truth of the matter asserted); United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 514 (10th Cir. 1984) (order to scare individual offered to show that it occurred, and not for its truth or falsity); United States v. Hensel, 699 F.2d 18, 35 (1st Cir. 1983) (list of names nonhearsay to show participation in conspiracy through inference that member of conspiracy possessed list but not from accuracy of the list itself); United States v. Mejias, 552 F.2d 435, 446 (2d Cir.) (hotel and luggage receipts and business card not offered for truth of matter asserted but as circumstantial evidence to link defendant with hotel, luggage found therein, and individual whose name appeared on card), cert. denied 434 U.S. 847, 98 S.Ct. 154, 54 L.Ed.2d 115 (1977); United States v. Ellis, 461 F.2d 962, 970 (2d Cir.) (address book entries and driver's license nonhearsay because offered as circumstantial proof of association with others and ownership), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 866, 93 S.Ct. 162, 34 L.Ed.2d 115 (1972); United States v. Mishkin, 317 F.2d 634, 637 (2d Cir.) (documents identifying names, phone numbe

efendant to van, not to prove truth of any matters asserted in the ticket; "[t]he existence of the ticket, not its assertions, was the point of its admission"), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 943, 110 S.Ct. 348, 107 L.Ed.2d 336 (1989); United States v. Ashby, 864 F.2d 690, 693 (10th Cir. 1988) (car title used to tie defendant to car, not to prove she was owner; work order documents admitted to inferentially tie defendant and co-defendant to drug running, not to prove truth of matters asserted therein; "[s]ince these documents were used to tie appellant to the car, they were not hearsay"), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1070, 110 S.Ct. 1793, 108 L.Ed.2d 794 (1990); United States v. Markopoulos, 848 F.2d 1036, 1039 (10th Cir. 1988), (spiral notebook which was used to log travel expenses not hearsay when admitted only to link defendant circumstantially to conspiracy, whereas rental car contract, credit card voucher and receipts were hearsay when admitted to show identity of renter or fact of payment); United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 514 (10th Cir. 1984) (orders or instructions were not hearsay because they "were offered to show that they occurred rather than to prove the truth of something asserted."); see also United States v. Jaramillo-Suarez, 950 F.2d 1378, 1383 (9th Cir. 1991) ("pay/owe sheet . . . was admitted for the specific and limited purpose of showing the character and use of the . . . apartment" and was therefore not hearsay); cf. United States v. Jefferson, 925 F.2d 1242, 1252 (10th Cir. 1991) (bill for a pager was hearsay when introduced to show that defendant had purchased pager service and that he owed money for the purchase), supplemental opinion, 931 F.2d 1396 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 238, 116 L.Ed.2d 194 (1991). Even assuming, arguendo, that the evidence is hearsay and the court incorrectly admitted it, we would find the error harmless, under either the "nonconstitutional harmless error standard of review pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 52" or the constitutional plain error standard of Chapman v.

Prior to the advent of guideline sentencing virtually no limitations were placed on what a court could consider at sentencing, and it was clear that reliance on uncorroborated hearsay was permissible. United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510 (10th Cir. 1984); United States v. Tracey, 675 F.2d 433 (1st Cir. 1982). There is nothing in the United States Sentencing Guidelines to indicate a change in this rule.

The court weighed the testimony, articulated its purpose for admitting the testimony and determined that its probative value outweighed its prejudicial effect towards defendant. Defendant asserts that Thomas' testimony was uncorroborated and directs us to United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510 (10th Cir. 1984), as precedent for reversal. We find Shepherd not applicable. Unlike Shepherd, Thomas' testimony regarding the trips he made to Michigan, the mode of transportation, the payment, and the meetings in Michigan between the defendant and himself were not disputed.

18 U.S.C. § 3661. Prior to the enactment of the Sentencing Guidelines, the circuit courts had uniformly held that reliable hearsay evidence could be considered in the sentencing determination. See e.g., United States v. Shepherd, 739 F.2d 510, 515 (10th Cir. 1984) (The sentencing judge may properly consider uncorroborated hearsay evidence that the defendant has had an opportunity to rebut or explain.); United States v. York, 830 F.2d 885, 893 (8th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1074, 108 S.Ct. 1047, 98 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1988); United States v. Cusenza, 749 F.2d 473, 478 (7th Cir. 1984); United States v. Lee, 818 F.2d 1052, 1055 (2nd Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 956, 108 S.Ct. 350, 98 L.Ed.2d 376.