FAY, Circuit Judge:
Appellant, Edward Ible, seeks reversal of his conviction for unlawful possession of counterfeit currency in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472. Several points are raised by appellant, but the failure of the government to comply with Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(1)(A), by not providing defense counsel with appellant’s oral statements made in response to interrogation by the arresting Secret Service agent, requires our reversal and remand for a retrial.
I.
Appellant was arrested on a state counterfeit charge at an outdoor jobsite in Sumter County, Florida, by two detectives of the Leesburg Police Department, located in Lake County, Florida. With the arresting officers was a federal Secret Service agent who subsequently made a federal arrest of the appellant after he had been transported back to the Leesburg Police Department and interrogated. One plainclothes Sumter County Deputy Sheriff and one uniformed Deputy Sheriff were also present at the arrest, but did not participate.
The arresting Leesburg officers had been investigating the distribution of two counterfeit $20 bills at a drugstore in Leesburg. The arresting federal agent had been investigating a similar report of counterfeit distribution at a bar near Leesburg. In the process of these separate investigations the police detectives and the federal agent rendezvoused and rode together to the open field jobsite at which appellant was arrested.1
[391]*391The arresting officers were in an unmarked vehicle and not in uniform. In making the arrest, the senior Leesburg police detective verbally identified himself, placed his hand on his gun2 and informed appellant that he was under arrest. The other Leesburg officer assisted the arresting officer by giving the appellant his warnings and frisking the appellant for weapons and contraband. This officer identified himself, displayed his badge and seized appellant’s wallet containing nineteen counterfeit $20 federal reserve notes. No weapons were drawn.
Based upon appellant’s statements at the scene the arresting officers searched a nearby wooded area where appellant claimed to have discovered the counterfeit money on the day previous to his arrest. Upon failing to discover any other counterfeit bills in the area, appellant, his two co-workers, the Secret Service agent and the two Leesburg officers proceeded toward Leesburg in the unmarked vehicle in which the arresting officer had arrived. Enroute they stopped to search a roadside area where one of the appellant’s co-workers claimed he had placed in a beer can and thrown away four $20 federal reserve notes given to him by the appellant the previous day.3 This search was also unsuccessful. Once again enroute, the Leesburg officers and Secret Service agent decided to recover additional counterfeit $20 bills which they had learned during initial interrogation of appellant and his co-workers had been passed that morning. They made two stops and recovered those bills.4 Appellant was aware of each recovery.
Upon arrival at the Leesburg Police Department, appellant was again apprised of his Miranda rights and interrogated by the arresting state officer with the Secret Service agent present. At that time appellant made certain oral admissions. The arresting state officer then sought to have appellant reduce to writing his earlier oral admissions. Appellant did so in part. The state officer then sought additions to this written statement based on the previous oral admissions and the appellant complied.5 Shortly after this, appellant was again given his Miranda warnings, interrogated by the Secret Service agent and arrested. During this interrogation the appellant made further oral statements but no written statement was obtained. An indict[392]*392ment on two counts, possession and uttering counterfeit currency was returned upon which the appellant was found guilty by a jury of possession only and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
II.
Before trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress all oral and written statements and all physical evidence. The trial court ruled that the appellant’s arrest was a valid citizen’s arrest under Florida law and thus the physical evidence and oral admissions made to the state officer were admissible. However, since the interrogating state officer did not respect appellant’s request to cease further inquiry and instead sought additional admissions, the appellant’s entire written statement was suppressed. The trial court also ruled that appellant’s later oral statements to the Secret Service agent were free from taint, despite the circumstances warranting suppression of the written statement, and were, therefore, admissible at trial.
The ease then proceeded to jury selection. During voir dire, appellant began to ask the jurors whether any of them had moral or religious beliefs about the use of alcohol that would make it difficult for them to be fair and impartial, should the issue arise.6 The trial court, in perhaps an excess of caution, intervened before an answer could be given and told the jurors not to answer the question. The court then rephrased the question: “Will you decide the case solely under the evidence and the law without any bias or prejudice one way or another? Regardless or what scruples you might have or not have?” Record, vol. VI, at 39-40. Although appellant did not object to this action, it is cited as error on appeal.
During the trial of the case the precise issue upon which appellant sought voir dire, his intemperance, was brought before the jury. The appellant took the stand and on direct examination he stated that at the time he discovered the nine hundred dollars in counterfeit bills, he was experiencing financial difficulties, resulting in a housing problem for his family, and that he was happy because he could now help one of his children by purchasing medicine for sickle cell anemia. On cross examination the prosecutor sought to impeach the appellant’s testimony as to his stated intent to provide for his family with the new-found money based upon his separation from his wife. The court sustained objections to this line of questioning. At that point the prosecution began a new line focusing upon appellant’s spending of his weekly paycheck, as well as the counterfeit money, on the consumption of alcohol. The court limited the inquiry to general questions and confined it to the period during which the offenses charged had occurred.
Also during the trial of the case the government introduced into evidence a number of instances of the passing of counterfeit currency at local establishments by the appellant and by those to whom appellant had made gifts of the counterfeit money.7 The trial court either instructed the jury to disregard such evidence, or in some instances allowed the evidence in to show the appellant’s knowledge and intent as elements of the offense and as it might bear on the credibility of his oral admissions. The trial court denied all motions for a mistrial.
III.
Whether this warrantless arrest is lawful insofar as it is not violative of the [393]*393Constitution is determined according to controlling state law, United States v. DiRe, 332 U.S. 581, 583, 589, 68 S.Ct. 222, 223, 226, 92 L.Ed. 210, 214, 217 (1947), based on the particular facts involved in a given situation. When the appellant was arrested, the arresting state officers did not satisfy the requirements of Florida law in order to accomplish a lawful, out-of-jurisdiction, official arrest. Fla.Stat. § 901.25 (1979). However, under the common law Florida does recognize the right of a policeman as a private citizen to make an arrest (1) when a felony is committed in his presence or (2) when a felony has actually been committed and the policeman as a citizen reasonably believes, in good faith, that the person to be arrested has committed the felony. United States v. Brown, 551 F.2d 639, 645 (5th Cir. 1977), rev’d en banc on other grounds, 569 F.2d 236 (5th Cir. 1977); Dorsey v. United States, 174 F.2d 899, 901 (5th Cir. 1949), cert. denied, 338 U.S. 950, 70 S.Ct. 479, 94 L.Ed. 586 (1950). See, e. g., McAnnis v. State, 386 So.2d 1230, 1232 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1980); State v. Chapman, 376 So.2d 262, 264 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1979); State v. Shipman, 370 So.2d 1195, 1196 (Fla. 4th D.C.A. 1979); Collins v. State, 143 So.2d 700, 702-03 (2nd D.C.A.), cert. denied, 148 So.2d 280 (Fla. 1962).
If, as here, it is known that a felony had been committed but not in the policeman’s presence, then the test for a lawful citizen arrest by a policeman out of jurisdiction is twofold: (1) whether the person making the arrest had reasonable grounds to believe that the person arrested committed the felony and (2) whether the officer making the arrest acted “under color of his office”. State v. Chapman, 376 So.2d 262, 264 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1979); State v. Williams, 366 So.2d 135, 136 (Fla. 2nd D.C.A. 1979). Under Florida law passing counterfeit bills and possessing ten or more counterfeit bills knowing them to be counterfeit, with the intent to pass or utter them, are felonies. Fla.Stat. §§ 831.07-08 (1979). The facts of the ease amply support both that the arresting state officers had knowledge of the occurrence of these felonies and had reasonable grounds to believe that the appellant had committed these felonies. Therefore, the issue becomes whether the Leesburg Police detectives acted “under col- or of office” and obviated the legality of the state arrest at the jobsite.
Florida law on this point is not free from ambiguity. Compare, State v. Jimerson, 330 So.2d 169, 169-70 (Fla. 4th D.C.A. 1976) (Mager, J. dissenting) and State v. Chapman, 376 So.2d 262, 263 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1979) with McAnnis v. State, 386 So.2d 1230, 1232 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1980) and State v. Shipman, 370 So.2d 1195, 1196-97 (Fla. 4th D.C.A. 1979) and Adams v. State, 143 So.2d 903, 904 (Fla. 2nd D.C.A. 1962). However, the weight of opinion favors defining acting “under color of office” as “a law enforcement officer actually holding himself out as a police officer, by either wearing his uniform, or in some other manner openly asserting his official position, in order to observe the unlawful activity involved or the contraband seized.” State v. Shipman, 370 So.2d at 1196-97. See McAnnis v. State, 386 So.2d 1230, 1232 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1980). Therefore, as the facts of this case do not show that the arresting officers acted “under color of office”, we conclude that appellant’s arrest was lawful and that the trial court did not err by denying appellant’s motion to suppress both the physical evidence seized and the appellant’s oral admissions. See Moll v. United States, 413 F.2d 1233, 1237-38 (5th Cir. 1969); United States v. Montos, 421 F.2d 215, 224-25 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1022, 90 S.Ct. 1262, 25 L.Ed.2d 532 (1970).
The appellant also contends that his oral admissions to the Secret Service agent were the tainted product of the Leesburg detective’s unconstitutional conduct in obtaining a written statement from the appellant and that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress. While it is true that the trial court suppressed the written statement because the Leesburg police detective failed to respect appellant’s constitutional request to cease further inquiry, it is significant that the trial court ruled that appellant’s earlier oral admission to the [394]*394Leesburg detective, which was made in the presence of the Secret Service agent, was both informed and voluntary.
It is a well established rule that subsequent in custody statements are inadmissible if a casual connection is found between the prior unconstitutional conduct and the subsequent statement. The subsequent statement is deemed to be tainted. United States v. Henry, 604 F.2d 908, 920-21 (5th Cir. 1979); Harney v. United States, 407 F.2d 586, 589 (5th Cir. 1969). However, the independent source of appellant’s later oral admissions to the Secret Service agent, found in his initial oral admissions made in that agent’s presence, establishes the latter’s validity and the absence of taint. United States v. Schmidt, 573 F.2d 1057, 1062-1064 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 881, 99 S.Ct. 221, 58 L.Ed.2d 194 (1978); cf. United States v. Greer, 566 F.2d 472, 474 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 1009, 98 S.Ct. 1881, 56 L.Ed.2d 391 (1978); United States v. Strickland, 493 F.2d 182, 186-87 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 801, 95 S.Ct. 9, 42 L.Ed.2d 32 (1974). We cannot conclude that the trial court was clearly erroneous in its determination. United States v. Llinas, 603 F.2d 506, 508 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1079, 100 S.Ct. 1030, 62 L.Ed.2d 762 (1980); United States v. Juarez, 573 F.2d 267, 273 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 915, 99 S.Ct. 289, 58 L.Ed. 262 (1979).
IV.
Appellant raises three other points as reversible error which, since we must reverse on other grounds, will not be addressed in great detail. The trial court’s admission of evidence of (1) the recovery of counterfeit currency passed by appellant and his donees and (2) the search for the currency jettisoned in a beer can by appellant’s co-workers, was not an abuse of discretion. United States v. Foshee, 606 F.2d 111, 112 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1082, 100 S.Ct. 1036, 62 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980); United States v. Welliver, 601 F.2d 203, 210 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Ashley, 555 F.2d 462, 465 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied sub nom. Leveritte v. United States, 434 U.S. 869, 98 S.Ct. 210, 54 L.Ed.2d 147 (1977). See Fed.R.Evid. 403; Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). The evidence appears relevant either to appellant’s knowledge and intent in regards to both the possession and uttering counts where mistake had been raised by the defense or to the motivation for, and bona fides of, appellant’s statements to the arresting officers. See United States v. Beechum, 582 F.2d 898, 911 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 920, 99 S.Ct. 1244, 59 L.Ed.2d 472 (1979); United States v. Seay, 432 F.2d 395, 404 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, sub nom. United States v. McGee, 401 U.S. 942, 91 S.Ct. 949, 28 L.Ed.2d 223 (1971); United States v. Castens, 462 F.2d 391, 393-94 (8th Cir. 1972). Therefore we cannot conclude that the trial court abused his discretion by admitting the evidence. See United States v. Foshee, 606 F.2d 111, 112 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1082, 100 S.Ct. 1036, 62 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980).
In considering the appellant’s contention that the government engaged in improper cross examination of the defendant, it is well settled that impeachment of a witness by presenting testimony of a general habit of intemperance unrelated to veracity is improper. See, e. g., Popped v. United States, 418 F.2d 214, 215 (5th Cir. 1969). However, the record adequately demonstrates that the government intended to impeach, on cross, the veracity of appellant’s statements made during direct examination and that the trial court sought to properly limit and control this attack. Since we are also confident that on retrial such impeachment, if necessary, will be conducted in a more professional manner, it is not necessary for this court to determine whether the mere asking of the questions in the form used is a sufficient basis for reversal.
Finally, the appellant submits that the effect of the denial of his proposed voir dire question concerning the jurors’ moral or religious beliefs about alcohol was to deprive him of the effective exercise of his peremptory challenges. While we do not [395]*395need to decide whether this failure was reversible error, see United States v. Shavers, 615 F.2d 266 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. Delval, 600 F.2d 1098 (5th Cir. 1979), the court views this action by the trial court with grave concern. As demonstrated by the turn of events at trial, this was a very appropriate area for inquiry by counsel and it is expected that such inquiry will be conducted on retrial.
While Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 24(a) gives wide discretion to the trial court, voir dire may have little meaning if it is not conducted at least in part by counsel. The “federal” practice of almost exclusive voir dire examination by the court8 does not take into account the fact that it is the parties, rather than the court, who have a full grasp of the nuances and the strength and weaknesses of the case. “Peremptory challenges are worthless if trial counsel is not afforded an opportunity to gain the necessary information upon which to base such strikes.” United States v. Ledee, 549 F.2d 990, 993 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 902, 98 S.Ct. 297, 54 L.Ed.2d 188 (1977). See United States v. Price, 573 F.2d 356, 362 (5th Cir. 1978); United States v. Mutchler, 559 F.2d 955, 958-60 (5th Cir. 1977). Therefore questioning by the court must overall, coupled with its charge to the jury, afford a party the protection it seeks. United States v. L’Hoste, 609 F.2d 796, 802-03 (5th Cir. 1980) (appeal pending); United States v. Delval, 600 F.2d 1098, 1102-03 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Williams, 573 F.2d 284, 287 (5th Cir. 1978). Experience indicates that in the majority of situations questioning by counsel would be more likely to fulfil this need than an exclusive examination in general terms by the trial court.
V.
We reach appellant’s contention that the government failed to comply with Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(1)(A)9, and find that it has merit.10 [396]*396Prior to trial the government provided defense counsel with the appellant’s written statement11 and indicated that this document contained the substance of appellant’s oral admissions made to the interrogating officers which would be submitted in evidence at trial. In this statement, which was later suppressed, the appellant admitted “[BJefore I spent these money I was told that these money was not feeling real that they was wet at the time, then I dried them out and we felt them and they felt real but I still had a little idea they were false that the reason I was trying to spend them so fast.”12
During the government’s case-in-chief, the following testimony was given by the arresting Secret Service agent:
Q. Did Mr. Ible then make any statements?
A. Yes, he did.
Q. What did he say?
A. He stated that he knew the money was counterfeit. He stated that the day before he had been told that the money was funny money, and that he should take it to someone to have it verified. He stated that he had knowledge of counterfeit money because he had been a police officer in the British West Indies where he had been trained and knew about the Queen’s money being counterfeit.”
Record, vol. VIII, at 276-77.
There is a significant difference between this testimony and the statements provided the defense counsel as the substance of appellant’s oral admissions. The latter is a confession to the most critical elements of the offense in dispute at trial, knowledge and intent, whereas the former reflected a state of awareness which at least arguably does not rise to the level of criminal intent. See, e. g., United States v. Manetta, 551 F.2d 1352, 1356 (5th Cir. 1977). While the prosecutor was candid with this court in admitting surprise,13 his efforts to demonstrate that this testimony was based upon admissions previously made to the state arresting officer and thus not new, were unavailing.14 This statement was clearly discoverable under Rule 16(a)(1)(A). See United States v. Pascual, 606 F.2d 561, 565 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Campag[397]*397nuolo, 592 F.2d 852, 858 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Arcentales, 532 F.2d 1046 (5th Cir. 1976).
While a failure to comply with Rule 16(a) is not reversible error in the absence of a showing of prejudice, United States v. Arcentales, 532 F.2d 1046 (5th Cir. 1976), we are mindful that the most critical issue in this close case15 was appellant’s knowledge and intent. We conclude that the error, therefore, was of a prejudicial nature. In making this determination, we look to Justice Rutledge’s classic formulation in Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764-65, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1248, 90 L.Ed. 1557, 1566-67 (1946):
If, when all is said and done, the conviction is sure that the error did not influence the jury, or had but very slight effect, the verdict and the judgment should stand .... But if one cannot say, with fair assurance, after pondering all that happened without stripping the erroneous action from the whole, that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error, it is impossible to conclude that substantial rights were not affected. The inquiry cannot be merely whether there was enough to support the result, apart from the phase affected by the error. It is rather, even so, whether the error itself had substantial influence. If so, or if one is left in grave doubt, the conviction cannot stand.
See also, United States v. Jennings, 527 F.2d 862, 868 (5th Cir. 1976). We are not convinced that the error in this case might not have had a substantial influence on the jury. The judgment of the District Court is REVERSED and the matter REMANDED for a retrial.