United States v. Williams

235 F. App'x 925
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided June 7, 2007·No. 04-4267·Unpublished·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

Darryl Williams was convicted by a jury of two counts of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). After an initial mistrial due to a hung jury, a new trial yielded a guilty verdict. Williams was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 108 months, 3 years supervised release, a $1,000 fine, restitution in the amount of $862, and a $200 special assessment. Williams appeals his conviction. He argues that the District Court erred in admitting the testimony of a “reverse projection photogrammetry” expert because the government failed to demonstrate that the expert’s technique satisfies any of the admissibility criteria set forth in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), or possesses any other indicia of reliability. We have jurisdiction over Williams’ appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we will affirm.

I.

Williams was charged with robbing two banks in June 2003. In the first robbery on June 6, a man entered Sovereign Bank in Folsom, Pennsylvania, demanded money from a teller and ran out after receiving $640. This robbery was captured on the bank’s surveillance camera. In the second robbery on June 18, a man who, witnesses say, bore a resemblance to the Sovereign robber, entered a Citizens Bank in Glenolden, Pennsylvania. This man demanded money from the teller station but grabbed $422 from the teller before she could comply-

The primary issue at trial was the height of the bank robber in each of these robberies. Witnesses to the robberies testified that the robber was anywhere from 5'2" to 5'7" tall. Williams is 6' tall. The *927 government sought to introduce the expert testimony of FBI agent Paul Smith concerning the height of the Sovereign Bank robber. Based on the video footage from the surveillance camera, Smith determined that the suspect was closer to 5'11" than 5'2" by applying “reverse projection photogrammetry.” This method is on occasion employed by the FBI to determine the height of individuals depicted on surveillance cameras like the one that captured images of the Sovereign Bank robber. Smith testified that there is an error rate of about 1" in this type of height analysis. After holding a Daubert hearing to determine the admissibility of this evidence, the District Court determined that Smith’s testimony was admissible.

Williams challenges the District Court’s admission of Smith’s testimony concerning reverse projection photogrammetry on the grounds that the technique fails to satisfy any of the five Daubert criteria for admission of expert testimony. The District Court found under the preponderance standard that Smith’s testimony met the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 702. Specifically, the Court found that the testimony was based on sufficient facts or data as recounted by the expert, the testimony was a product of reliable principals and methods, that the expert had adequate training in the technique and that he has review within the FBI, which, in the trial judge’s opinion, was sufficient under the applicable test. Additionally, the District Court found that the witness applied the principals and methods reliably to the facts of the case.

II.

We review the District Court’s decision for abuse of discretion. United States v. Velasquez, 64 F.3d 844, 847 (3d Cir.1995). Although the Supreme Court has made clear that federal trial judges, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 702, have a “gatekeeping” obligation to insure that only reliable and relevant expert testimony be presented to jurors, the trial judge is granted a certain degree of latitude to determine whether the Daubert factors or any other set of reasonable reliability criteria are reasonable measures of reliability in a particular case. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 593, 113 S.Ct. 2786.

Rule 702 sets forth requirements for the admission of expert testimony: (1) the proffered witness must be an expert; (2) the expert must testify to scientific, technical or specialized knowledge; and (3) the expert’s testimony must assist the trier of fact. Velasquez, 64 F.8d at 848. The overriding consideration with regard to these three factors is that expert testimony should be admitted if it will assist the trier of fact. Id. at 849.

The parties do not dispute that Smith’s testimony satisfies the first and third requirements of Rule 702. Here, Smith presented evidence that the FBI trained him in the reverse projection photogrammetry technique and that he has employed the technique on numerous prior occasions. Additionally, it is clear that Smith’s testimony is relevant to the primary issue of height in this case and that admission of his testimony would aid the trier of fact in making a determination of height.

The second requirement, that the expert testify to scientific, technical or specialized knowledge, is at issue here. The Supreme Court clarified in Daubert that this requirement is intended to ensure the reliability or trustworthiness of the expert’s testimony. See Velasquez, 64 F.3d at 849 (citing Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786). Daubert enumerates a number of factors to be considered by a district court in its assessment of whether the testimony’s underlying reasoning or methodology is scientifically valid and properly can be applied to the facts at issue. Daubeit, 509 U.S. at 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786. These factors *928 are: (1) whether a method consists of a testable hypothesis; (2) whether the method has been subject to peer review; (3) the known or potential rate of error; (4) the existence and maintenance of standards controlling the technique’s operation; (5) whether the method is generally accepted; (6) the relationship of the technique to methods which have been established to be reliable; (7) the qualifications of the expert witness testifying based on the methodology; and (8) the non-judicial uses to which the method has been put. In re Paoli R.R. Yard PCB Litig., 35 F.3d 717, 742 (3d Cir.1994).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Williams, 235 F. App'x 925 (3d Cir. 2007).

235 F. App'x 925 (United States v. Williams) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

LORENZO-NODA v. KAZAK
D. New Jersey, 2025
State v. Matthews
Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2022
United States v. Zabavsky
District of Columbia, 2022
Jayne v. City of Sioux Falls
D. South Dakota, 2020
Brugler v. UNUM Group
M.D. Pennsylvania, 2019
Collins v. Menard, Inc.
N.D. Illinois, 2019
Sonos, Inc. v. D&M Holdings Inc.
297 F. Supp. 3d 501 (D. Delaware, 2017)
McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine
838 F. Supp. 2d 282 (D. New Jersey, 2011)