United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-2985 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NICHOLAS O. NELSON, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. No. 18-CR-155 — William C. Griesbach, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED APRIL 14, 2020 — DECIDED MAY 11, 2020 ____________________

Before WOOD, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and KANNE, Circuit Judges. WOOD, Chief Judge. In the course of a police check of a sus- picious vehicle, Nicholas Nelson was caught with a handgun. Because he previously had been convicted of a felony, it was a crime for him to possess such a weapon. He eventually was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and he was con- victed after a jury trial. He raises two arguments on appeal, both directed to his conviction: first, he complains about some 2 No. 19-2985 evidentiary rulings of the district court, and second, he argues that a misstatement by the prosecutor during closing argu- ment was so prejudicial that he should receive a new trial. The applicable standard of review dooms both points, and so we affirm his conviction. I A On February 26, 2017, police were dispatched after busi- ness hours to check on a suspicious vehicle in an office park- ing lot. Officer Seeley Moe, of the Village of Fox Crossing, Wisconsin, responded to the call. He saw two cars in the lot, a Hyundai Sonata and a Mercedes with a flat tire. Only the Hyundai was occupied, and so he approached it. As he did so, a man got out of the car. Responding to Officer Moe’s in- quiry, the man said that his name was Adam Nelson. Officer Moe checked Department of Transportation (DOT) records for that name and quickly realized that the man had lied to him. The man backtracked quickly, explaining that he had lied about his name because he had a suspended driver’s li- cense, and that he was really Nicholas Nelson. Knowing that much, Officer Moe took Nelson to his squad car to write up a municipal citation for obstructing an officer. Meanwhile, Officer Corey Haag was heading to the park- ing lot to back up Officer Moe. On his way, Officer Haag ra- dioed a request to neighboring Grand Chute for an officer with a trained dog. Upon arriving at the lot, Officer Haag spoke with the Hyundai’s two passengers, both women. The one in the back seat identified herself as Ashley Baring and showed a Wisconsin state I.D. card. The other passenger, who No. 19-2985 3 was in the front, initially identified herself as “Brooklyn Sul- livan.” That also turned out to be a lie, as another quick check of the DOT database revealed. Confronted with the mismatch, the passenger admitted that her name was Alexis Sullivan. While he was speaking with the women, Officer Haag no- ticed the smell of alcohol and marijuana emanating from the car, and he saw what appeared to be small bits of marijuana on Sullivan’s shirt. Around that time, Officer Adam Miller ar- rived with his trained dog, Apollo. Officer Haag asked Baring and Sullivan to get out of the car, and they did so. Officer Mil- ler walked Apollo around the car, and the dog alerted on the back driver’s side. Based on the alert, Officers Miller and Moe searched the car. They found some marijuana, and critically for this case, they found a handgun underneath a sweatshirt, within reach of the driver. Nelson ultimately admitted that he was a convicted felon and was arrested. During the course of the ensuing investiga- tion, the police obtained a sea