United States v. Mangan
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
575 F.2d 32 (1978)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Frank Mangan (defendant) was charged with tax fraud. The prosecution alleged that Mangan fraudulently filled out several tax returns for other people. At trial, the prosecution sought to prove that the handwriting on the fraudulent tax returns matched the handwriting on documents claimed to be examples of Mangan’s handwriting: Mangan’s own tax returns and forms in Mangan’s personnel file that he would have filled out. The prosecution called a handwriting expert who testified that Mangan’s tax returns and personnel forms were filled out with block capital letters similar to the way the fraudulent tax returns were filled out. The expert testified that the same person filled out the personnel forms and the fraudulent tax returns. There was no testimony that Mangan’s tax returns or his personnel file forms were actually written by Mangan. Mangan objected to the use of his tax returns and personnel file forms as handwriting samples. The trial court admitted the samples and the testimony of the expert and convicted Mangan. He appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Friendly, J.)
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