United States v. Collado

957 F.2d 38 (1st Cir. 1992)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Officer Wheeler saw D drop the bag and directed Officer Venditto to seize it. Venditto took the evidence to the police station, completed a seizure report, and turned the evidence over to the Special Investigations Bureau (SIB). It contained thirty plastic baggies of cocaine, as well as sixteen glassine packets of heroin bound together by an elastic band and bearing the label 'Fly High.' Officer Venditto testified that he delivered the evidence to SIB. Detective Purro, the SIB officer responsible for processing drug evidence, testified to the standard operating procedure for depositing seized drugs at the police station between midnight and 8:00 a.m. when the SIB office is closed. Venditto deposited the evidence in a 'mail slot' leading into a locked safe, fill out the seizure report, and place the report on top of the SIB safe. P introduced the bag into evidence over D’s objection. Detective Purro testified that at 9:00 a.m. the following morning, he found Venditto's seizure report on top of the SIB safe, opened the safe, and retrieved a clear plastic bag whose contents precisely matched those described in Venditto's testimony as having been seized from D. Other testimony established an uninterrupted chain of custody, commencing with Purro's retrieval of the evidence from the SIB safe and concluding with its presentation at trial. There was no indication that the proffered evidence had been altered in any way. D was convicted and appealed. D claimed P did not properly authenticate the bag.