United States v. Quinn
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
18 F.3d 1461 (1994)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Keith Quinn (defendant) was charged with bank robbery. Surveillance photographs taken from the area captured the robber. At trial, the prosecution (plaintiff) called Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Douglas Goodin to testify as an expert in the use of photogrammetry. Goodin testified that photogrammetry was the process of using objects of known size in a photograph to estimate the size of another object in the photograph. Specifically, Goodin testified that by measuring objects’ sizes based on their distance from the camera, Goodin could use computer calculations to estimate the size of other objects in the image based on how far they were from the camera. Here, Goodin used photogrammetry to estimate that the robber, who was captured in the photographs, was between 5’3” and 5’6” tall. Quinn was 5’5” tall. Quinn was convicted, and he appealed, arguing that Goodin’s testimony should not have been admitted.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Schroeder, J.)
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