United States v. Branch

970 F.2d 1368 (1992)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
U
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

United States v. Branch

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
970 F.2d 1368 (1992)

SC

Facts

Jonathan Branch (defendant) was charged with drug-related crimes. At trial, the prosecution (plaintiff) sought to introduce recordings from a wiretap that captured conversations between Branch and Earlous Tripp and other coconspirators. The prosecution was granted an in camera hearing and presented the tapes to the trial judge. The prosecution presented testimony of 26 agents who ran and monitored the recordings. The trial judge found that the prosecution had authenticated the evidence sufficiently to present it to the jury for a jury determination on the recordings’ authenticity. The judge stated that the prosecution would still have to lay the foundation for the evidence in front of the jury. Once back in front of the jury, the prosecution laid the foundation by calling a wiretap supervisor from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to explain how the recording excerpts were made. The prosecution also called another FBI agent working on the case and Tripp to identify voices on and confirm the accuracy of the recordings. The prosecution did not, however, present testimony of any of the 26 agents who had testified before the judge in camera. Branch was convicted, and he appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Wilkins, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 805,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Evidence

Key Terms