United States v. Dockins
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
986 F.2d 888 (1993)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
In a trial charging Dockins (defendant) with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the prosecution sought to prove that Dockins was previously convicted of a felony under a different name, Carl Smith. In doing so, the prosecution sought to introduce into evidence a fingerprint card from Carl Smith’s arrest allegedly from the Denver Police Department. Prosecution witnesses testified that the signature of Carl Smith on the fingerprint card was written by Dockins and that the fingerprints on the card matched Dockins’s fingerprints. The trial court admitted the fingerprint card. Dockins appealed on the grounds that the card was not properly authenticated.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Higginbotham, J.)
What to do next…
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.