U.S. v. Myers

Facts

A Florida bank was robbed by a single actor, who disappeared following the crime. The government charged Appellant with the robbery, but Appellant denied that it was he who committed the crime. There were two eye witnesses to the crime and various photographs taken by a security camera, but the identity of the robber remained at issue because Appellant’s friend, Dennis Coffie, pled guilty to the robbery; Coffie, “bears a remarkable physical resemblance” to Appellant. Appellant indicated, prior to his trial, that he intended to assert an alibi defense, and listed three parties, including Coffie, as intended witnesses. The government responded that it intended to utilize two tellers from the bank and another witness, Janice Johns, to rebut Appellant’s alibi defense. No further information was ever added to either disclosure. Despite never During trial, the government called four witnesses “not listed in its response to [Appellant’s] notice of his intent to offer an alibi d efense, whose statements were designed to discredit [the testimony of Appellant’s alibi witnesses].” The lower court also allowed evidence of Appellant’s conviction for another bank robbery that took place in Pennsylvania to be admitted, despite Appellant’s objections. At the conclusion of the trial, the lower court instructed the jury, “concerning the proper use of evidence indicating that [Appellant] fled from FBI agents on two occasions.”