United States v. Humphrey

Facts

D was employed as a bank and vault teller. Her responsibilities included counting the contents of the Bank's vault, which stored cash, loose coin, and food stamps, and conducting various transactions with the Federal Reserve Bank. D prepared the shipment of $651,403 worth of food stamps to the Reserve. The ticket for this shipment was approved by two employees, as required by the Bank's dual control policy. Tommi Turbyfill denied approving the March 7 shipment or signing the ticket. D was confronted and admitted that she had signed Turbyfill's initials on the ticket. D resigned. After D's resignation, they discovered a total loss in excess of $510,000. During trial, D claims that the district court abused its discretion in admitting 107 coin bags as demonstrative evidence. P introduced as Exhibit 6a a vault cash form dated May 21, 1996, and verified by D that showed an inventory of $214,167.45 in loose coin. P also introduced a videotape dated May 21, 1996, that showed the area inside the Bank's vault where loose coin was stored. The purpose of the demonstrative evidence was to show the jury what 107 coin bags would look like and to establish that the vault did not contain that many coin bags. Six of the 107 bags were filled with coins; the remainder were stuffed with styrofoam peanuts to the approximate size of the bags filled with coins. D counsel because the bags filled with styrofoam were bigger than those filled with coins. An expert witness stated that the bags filled with styrofoam were representative of and 'about the same size' in volume as the bags filled with coins.  The district court admitted the exhibit, noting that defense counsel could raise this issue on cross-examination. Witnesses for P later testified that they did not see that much loose coin in the Bank's vault on May 21, 1996, or any other day. D was convicted and appealed. 

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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