Opinion ID: 1225710
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The presentation of Castaldi's mug shot to the jury.

Text: Castaldi's second claim is that the district court improperly permitted the government to present a mug shot of him to the jury during the government's opening statement and closing argument. The mug shot was part of a demonstrative aid presenting the flow of funds between the grant, Hernandez, and Castaldi, with the picture accompanying Castaldi's name and place on the flow chart. Mug shots are generally not admissible at trial because they are indicative of past criminal conduct and thus barred by concerns about presenting evidence of a defendant's past criminal conduct to a jury. United States ex rel. Bleimehl v. Cannon, 525 F.2d 414, 416 (7th Cir.1975). A mug shot may be introduced as evidence, however, when the following conditions have been satisfied. (1) The prosecution must have a demonstrable need to introduce the photographs; (2) the photos themselves, if shown to the jury, must not imply that the defendant had a criminal record; and (3) the manner of their introduction at trial must be such that it does not draw particular attention to the source or implications of the photographs. Id. The decision to allow the use of demonstrative exhibits is an evidentiary decision which we review for abuse of discretion. United States v. Warner, 498 F.3d 666, 691 (7th Cir.2007). Castaldi's argument on this issue is limited to the absence of any demonstrable need to introduce the photograph into evidence, coupled with the prejudice from the introduction of a mug shot. The government included the mug shot of Castaldi on a chart used to illustrate how money flowed among different organizations and individuals. The district court determined that the mug shot did not indicate that Castaldi was incarcerated, and that it lacked the prejudicial features of a mug shot, such as a prisoner wearing prison garb or holding up prison slates. Indeed, the photo shows Castaldi wearing street clothes, standing in front of a blank back-ground. In a case where the government simply uses the photo as part of a demonstrative exhibit, prosecutors are well advised not to present mug shots or other detention-related photos to a jury, particularly when a prosecutor could obtain a similar photo from another government bureau, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles. Were the government to consider such an approach again, we trust they would reflect on the challenges such demonstrative exhibits present. Nevertheless, the record below indicates that the photo was not admitted into evidence and was presented in such a way that the jury would not have been aware of its origins. Although we have reservations regarding the need to introduce the mug shots when the government could simply have used the defendants' names on the chart, we will not find an abuse of discretion on the basis that we might have acted differently from the district court. Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the use of the photo in the demonstrative exhibit.