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UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen Michael SANITI, Defendant-Appellant

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit1979-08-13No. No. 79-1026
604 F.2d 603

Summary

Holding. The appellate court affirmed the conviction, rejecting all of Saniti's evidentiary challenges and finding no reversible error in the trial court's admission of his wife's testimony, evidence of his drug addiction, lay witness identification, or the combined photographic exhibits.

Stephen Saniti was convicted of bank robbery and appealed on multiple grounds. First, he challenged his wife's testimony, claiming it violated the husband-wife privilege. The trial court held a hearing and found the marriage was entered into in bad faith solely to invoke the privilege, making it ineligible for protection. Second, Saniti objected to evidence of his $250-per-day heroin addiction, but the court properly admitted it as relevant to show his financial motive for committing the robbery. Third, he argued that lay witnesses—his roommates—should not have been permitted to identify him in bank surveillance photographs based on their recognition of his appearance and clothing, but their identification testimony satisfied the requirements for lay opinion evidence given their close familiarity with him. Finally, Saniti contended that the district court erred in admitting a bank photograph with an FBI photographic overlay attached, claiming insufficient evidence that the camera angles and distances matched; however, he had not objected to the overlay's attachment during trial or requested that it be detached.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether the husband-wife privilege applies when a marriage is found to be a sham entered into solely to invoke the privilege
  • Admissibility of evidence of drug addiction to establish financial motive for bank robbery
  • Lay witness opinion testimony identifying a defendant in surveillance photographs based on familiarity
  • Admissibility of combined photographic exhibits without establishing identical camera angles and distances

Procedural posture

Saniti appealed his bank robbery conviction, raising multiple evidentiary objections to the trial court's rulings.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM:

Saniti was convicted of bank robbery pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). We affirm.

Relying upon Hawkins v. United States, 358 U.S. 74, 79 S.Ct. 136, 3 L.Ed.2d 125 (1958), Saniti contends that the district court committed reversible error when it compelled his wife to testify against him. Even assuming the legal issue was properly raised in this case, there is a narrow exception to the husband-wife privilege when the marriage is not entered into in good faith. See Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953); United States v. Mathis, 559 F.2d 294, 298 (5th Cir. 1977). Thus, if it were a sham, the purported marriage could not be used to invoke the privilege. The district judge held an evidentiary hearing on the issue of the validity of the marriage for the purpose of the husband-wife privilege, and concluded that it was indeed a sham. The determination that the marriage was a sham was a finding of fact which cannot be set aside unless it is clearly erroneous. Here it was not. There was adequate evidence to substantiate it.

Saniti next contends that the district court improperly admitted into evidence testimony that he was addicted to heroin at the time of the bank robbery. We disagree. Evidence that he had a $250-a-day heroin and morphine habit was properly admitted to show his motive for robbing the bank. Evidence that tends to show that a defendant is living beyond his means is of probative value in a case involving a crime resulting in financial gain. United States v. Tierney, 424 F.2d 643, 647 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 850, 91 S.Ct. 53, 27 L.Ed.2d 87 (1970); United States v. Falley, 489 F.2d 33, 39 (2d Cir. 1973). The trial court was within its wide discretion in admitting this evidence. See United States v. Fernandez, 497 F.2d 730, 735 (9th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 990, 95 S.Ct. 1423, 43 L.Ed.2d 670 (1975). Saniti’s reliance upon United States v. Blackshire, 538 F.2d 569 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 840, 97 S.Ct. 113, 50 L.Ed.2d 108 (1976), is not persuasive. There evidence of narcotics addiction was admitted only to impugn a witness’ credibility. Id. at 572.

Saniti next contends that the district judge improperly allowed lay witnesses to give opinion evidence identifying Saniti as the person in bank surveillance photographs. Opinion testimony by lay witnesses may be admitted if the opinion is “(a) rationally based on the perception of the witness and (b) helpful to . the determination of a fact in issue.” Fed.R.Evid. 701. The two witnesses who identified San-iti as the person in the surveillance photographs were his roommates. Their perceptions of his appearance and clothing were rationally based upon their association with him. The two witnesses were able to identify the clothing on the person in the photograph as belonging to Saniti. That clothing was not available to the jury for comparison. Saniti’s reliance upon the cases involving expert testimony is misplaced, for they are not in point.

Saniti’s final argument pertains to an exhibit consisting of a bank photograph with an attached photographic overlay which the district judge admitted in evidence. Both the bank surveillance photograph and the overlay, which was made from an FBI photograph, were properly admitted in evidence. Saniti does not now object to their separate admissibility. Rather, he contends that error occurred when the bank photograph and the overlay photograph were used in conjunction with each other. Saniti argues that the district judge erred in admitting the photograph with the overlay attached because there is no evidence that the angles and distances of the separate cameras were the same. His counsel had adequate opportunity to develop this line of inquiry during cross-examination of the FBI photographer, and took the time to do so. At no time did Saniti request that the two exhibits be physically detached.

There was no error in admitting the overlay, essentially a copy of a picture already in evidence. As the two pictures were properly in evidence, Saniti cannot now object because they were attached with tape for purposes of comparison. Indeed, the jury had the pictures in the jury room and, even if they had been detached, the jury could properly have made a comparison on its own. However, even if we were to conclude that the district judge committed error in allowing the taped exhibit into evidence, and that Saniti properly preserved his objection, we could not reverse this case on this basis because of the other overwhelming evidence of Saniti’s guilt.

AFFIRMED.

. In his oral findings, the district judge stated:

The question is not whether or not the marriage is valid. I don’t have much question but what the marriage is valid. The question is was the marriage ceremony entered into for the purpose of invoking the marital privilege? Clearly it was.

. Marital privilege is not available when, as here, the purpose of the marriage was for the purpose of invoking the marital privilege.