People v. Taylor

At a bench—or non-jury—trial, a trial judge convicted Teryck Taylor (defendant), a high school night watchman, of misdemeanor theft. After the dean of students, Kevin Marsh, reported a series of thefts from his desk, police detective William Annen installed a motion-activated, wireless digital video camera in the dean’s office. The camera transmitted to a digital video recorder (DVR). Annen verified that the camera and DVR worked properly: the camera focused on Marsh’s desk, and the DVR turned on when Marsh walked in front of the camera. After Marsh reported another theft, Annen made a VHS recording of the camera footage. The VHS tape showed two video segments separated by a 30-second gap, according to time stamps. Annen attributed the 30-second gap to a malfunction of the camera’s motion sensor. The court found that the video segments portrayed Taylor removing a bank pouch from Marsh’s desk. Taylor appealed from his conviction, contesting that the trial court had erred by admitting the video as evidence. The appellate court developed and applied a six-factor test to determine that the VHS tape lacked a proper evidentiary foundation. Notably, although a police report documented Annen’s process for copying the tape and the tape’s general chain of custody, the appellate court reasoned that the report was inadmissible as trial evidence. Moreover, the appellate court reasoned that the prosecution (plaintiff) had failed to present the original DVR recording and establish that the VHS tape had not been tampered with. The appellate court reversed Taylor’s conviction, and the prosecution appealed.