Opinion ID: 451968
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony of Hazel Crissman

Text: 28 Appellant Keating argues that the court should have suppressed the testimony of Hazel Crissman concerning one occasion on which he supplied her with quaaludes. Keating argues that Crissman was, at the time in question, meeting regularly with members of the Jacksonville sheriff's office. As a de facto government agent, Crissman had an obligation to preserve any evidence that came into her control. United States v. Nabors, 707 F.2d 1294 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 1271, 79 L.Ed.2d 677. But instead of saving the quaalude she was given, Crissman took it. Keating argues that this failure to fulfill her governmental obligation justifies exclusion of Crissman's testimony. 29 Keating's argument is flawed in several respects. First, no formal relationship has been established between Crissman and the sheriff's department which would justify her assumption of the department's preservation obligations. Second, there is no allegation of any relationship between Crissman and agents of the federal government, the government that brought the RICO action and would have had the attendant duty to preserve the evidence in this case. And finally even had Crissman had such a duty, her failure to save the quaalude would not necessarily have required the exclusion of her testimony. Whether a failure to preserve evidence rises to the level of a deprivation of due process and mandates exclusion of related testimony depends on the likelihood of mistakes in the identification of the evidence and the reasons for its non-availability. United States v. Herndon, 536 F.2d 1027, 1029 (5th Cir.1976). In this case there would be little chance that the substance in question would be misidentified, regardless of whether it was available in court. 30