The following excerpt is from United States v. Wells, 877 F.3d 1099 (9th Cir. 2017):
The district court adequately redressed the Government's action. In addition to instructing the jurors that questions are not evidence, the district court gave a lengthy limiting instruction. Wells neither objected to the limiting instruction itself nor did he request any further instructions. "Generally, when evidence is heard by the jury that is subsequently ruled inadmissible, or is applicable only to limited defendants or in a limited manner, a cautionary instruction from the judge is sufficient to cure any prejudice to the defendant." United States v. Escalante, 637 F.2d 1197, 1202-03 (9th Cir. 1980). "This procedure is the preferred alternative to declaring mistrial ...; mistrial is appropriate only where there has been so much prejudice that an instruction is unlikely to cure it." Id. at 1203. "[O]ur court assumes that the jury listened to and followed the trial judge's instructions." Id. at 1202; see also United States v. Gallenardo, 579 F.3d 1076, 1082 (9th Cir. 2009) (affirming denial of motion for a mistrial because it is "presume[d] that the jury followed the district court's limiting instruction").
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