Category: Federal Evidence

Attorney Michael J. Petro represented Nicolas Gomez during the motion-to-suppress proceedings, at trial, on direct appeal, and on the en banc appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The resulting decision changed how federal courts within the Seventh Circuit evaluate evidence of prior crimes, wrongs, and other...

A federal prosecutor may seek to introduce one defendant’s confession during a joint trial involving several defendants. A serious Confrontation Clause problem arises when the confession incriminates a codefendant, but the person who made the statement does not testify and cannot be cross-examined.

The government may attempt to solve...

When Federal Agents Interpret Coded Drug Conversations

Federal drug prosecutions frequently rely on recorded telephone calls, text messages, and intercepted conversations. The government may claim that ordinary words, numbers, or phrases are coded references to drugs, quantities, prices, or participants.

Federal agents cannot...

Federal prosecutors frequently use recordings made during controlled purchases and confidential informant operations. When the informant does not testify, the defense must determine whether the recording contains testimonial statements protected by the Sixth Amendment or merely depicts events captured by a recording device.

If prosecutors intend to introduce a...

Federal prosecutors frequently build criminal cases around cooperating witnesses, confidential informants, and codefendants who expect something in return for their testimony. A witness may hope to avoid charges, reduce a mandatory minimum sentence, receive money, obtain immigration assistance, or secure favorable treatment in another case.

The Sixth Amendment protects...

Federal prosecutors frequently use recorded telephone calls, body camera audio, surveillance recordings, voicemail messages, interviews, and files extracted from electronic devices. Before a recording may be admitted, the government must present evidence supporting a finding that the recording is what it purports to be.

Authentication is only the first...

Federal prosecutors frequently rely on business records to prove criminal cases involving fraud, financial transactions, healthcare billing, bank accounts, telephone records, loans, and other documentary evidence.

Ordinarily, a party offering a business record must establish a foundation showing that the document qualifies under the business-records exception to the hearsay...

Federal prosecutors frequently offer law enforcement officers as experts on drug trafficking organizations, coded language, distribution quantities, drug values, packaging, and common practices. An officer’s experience may qualify the officer to testify about certain specialized subjects, but experience alone does not make every opinion admissible.

If the government intends...

Evidence admitted during a federal criminal trial may have an even greater impact when jurors receive it in the jury room and can review it repeatedly during deliberations. Although jurors generally may examine admitted exhibits, the district judge retains discretion over which exhibits are provided and under what conditions.

Federal prosecutors may attempt to introduce allegations of prior sexual misconduct to persuade a jury that the defendant has a propensity to commit the charged offense. Federal Rules of Evidence 413 and 414 permit this type of evidence in certain sexual assault and child molestation prosecutions.

These rules are...