Opinion ID: 174996
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Adverse Inference Instruction

Text: Chief Warrant Officer Levecque testified that the Matinicus 's radar equipment was supposed to have recorded a video of the chase. For technical reasons, however, the video did not record properly and could not be played. The government made a number of efforts to play the video, including bringing it back to the Matinicus to play it on the cutter's recording system. When none of those efforts worked, the government notified the defendants of the technical problem, one month before the trial began. At trial, the defendants asked the district court to give what they call a missing evidence instruction, which would have advised the jury that it could infer that the video would have been unfavorable to the government based on the government's failure to produce it. The district court refused to give the instruction, citing the lack of evidence that the government acted in bad faith and the impossibility of producing the video. It told the defendants they could argue to the jury that the government should have produced the video. The defendants challenge that ruling on appeal. We review for abuse of discretion. United States v. Rose, 104 F.3d 1408, 1417 (1st Cir.1997). In some circumstances, a party's failure to produce evidence may justify an inference that the evidence would have been unfavorable to the non-producing party. [5] This general rule of evidence encompasses everything from the decision not to call a witness to the intentional destruction of documents. The party seeking the instruction has the burden of laying an appropriate evidentiary foundation. United States v. Laurent, 607 F.3d 895, 902 (1st Cir.2010). Although the particulars of the required showing vary from situation to situation, the basic thrust is always the same: the circumstances must be such that a reasonable jury could conclude that the evidence in question was unfavorable to the non-producing party. See Laurent, 607 F.3d at 902 (spoliation); United States v. Myerson, 18 F.3d 153, 159 (2d Cir.1994) (missing witness). In this case, there is no basis for such an inference. The government gave a satisfactory explanation for its failure to produce the radar video: the video did not properly record because of a technical mishap. Defendants have placed nothing in the record to suggest that the government's explanation was untrue. Under the circumstances, there is no reason to suppose that the video might have been unfavorable to the government. The district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to give an adverse inference instruction.