MARIA E. STRATTON
Federal Public Defender
CARLTON F. GUNN
Deputy Federal Public Defender
Suite 1503, United States Courthouse
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California 90012-4758
Telephone (213) 894-7730
Attorneys for Defendant
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
WESTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Defendant.
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NO. CR xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
NOTICE OF MOTION; MOTION FOR FURTHER DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT TESTIMONY REQUIRED BY FEDERAL RULE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 16; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
COMES NOW defendant, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, through his counsel, Deputy Federal Public Defender Carlton F. Gunn and Deputy Federal Public Defender Evan Jenness, and moves this Honorable Court for an order requiring the government to provide further disclosure regarding the testimony of the handwriting expert which it has indicated it intends to call at trial in this matter.
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This motion is made pursuant to Rule 16(a)(1)(E) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and is based upon the attached memorandum of points and authorities, all files and records in this case, and such further argument and evidence as may be presented to the Court regarding this motion.
Respectfully submitted,
MARIA E. STRATTON
Federal Public Defender
DATED: July __, 2000 By______________________________
CARLTON F. GUNN
Deputy Federal Public Defender
MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
I.
INTRODUCTION
Despite numerous requests by the defense, the
government has still not provided the full discovery required by Rule 16(a)(1)(E) of the
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, at least as to the handwriting expert it intends to
call. While the government has provided discovery regarding the handwriting expert's
opinions and qualifications, it has not provided discovery regarding the reasons and bases
for the expert's opinions.
The initial discovery which the government provided
consisted of two reports by the expert. The first report indicated that the expert had
compared eleven different questioned documents to handwriting exemplars provided by each
of the defendants. The report also set forth several conclusions regarding the authors of
the questioned documents, including the following: "There are slight indications PATRICK xxxxxxx may be the author of
[several specified] questioned exhibits; however, the evidence is far from a conclusive
finding." Ex. A, at 4 (emphasis in original).
The second report focused on the same eleven
questioned documents and additional known handwriting the government provided to the
expert. See Ex. B. In the second report,
the handwriting expert added the conclusion that the handwriting exemplars provided by
Victor xxxxxxx and Patrick xxxxxxx were "not
free and naturally written." Ex. B, at 3, 4 (emphasis in original).
Neither report gave the reasons for the expert's opinions. Mr. Patrick xxxxxxx therefore requested a summary of the reasons for the expert's opinions. Defense counsel initially made this request in a memorandum dated February 18, 1998, see Ex. C, and reiterated the request in a memorandum dated March 3, 1998, see Ex. D.
The government responded to these memoranda by
providing general information about how handwriting experts reach their conclusions. It
provided a document entitled, "Standard Terminology for Expressing Conclusions of
Forensic Documents," which defined "indications" as meaning "a body of
writing has few features which are of significance for handwriting comparison purposes,
but those features are in agreement with another body of writing." Ex. E, at 3. It
also provided a document entitled, "Basis for Handwriting Identification," which
(1) described the various factors a handwriting expert generally considers in attempting
to make an identification and (2) noted that "[t]he expert must also coX#-gf% xmgs7
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