United States v. Robinson
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
544 F.2d 110 (1976)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Three men robbed a bank and were caught on the bank’s surveillance system. Two of the men were identified, and the prosecution (plaintiff) charged William Robinson (defendant) as being the third. Robinson maintained that he was not the third bank robber. At trial, Robinson sought to introduce testimony of George Maher, a correction officer at a local jail. Maher planned to testify that he and his staff believed that the third robber in the surveillance photographs looked like Eli Turner. Turner was a suspect in two other bank robberies committed the same month but was not yet in custody. The trial court excluded the testimony on the ground that the court wanted to avoid a back-and-forth of lay opinion testimony on whether the third robber in the surveillance photograph looked like Robinson. Robinson was convicted, and he appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Meskill, J.)
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