United States v. Ortiz

Defendant, convicted of drug-related charges, argued that the district court erred in admitting the opinion testimony of his United States probation officer identifying defendant's voice speaking primarily Spanish on wiretapped calls because the officer does not speak Spanish and had only heard defendant speak English. The court concluded that in this case, the officer's familiarity with defendant's voice was substantially more than the minimal familiarity Federal Rule of Evidence 901(b)(5) requires for admission of lay voice identification testimony. Defendant's challenges go to the weight rather than the admissibility of defendant's testimony. Accordingly, the court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling on the authentication of his voice on the recordings. View "United States v. Ortiz" on Justia Law