Opinion ID: 2716506
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: summary testimony of irs agent tama mitchell

Text: Ms. Ulloa next argues that the district court erred in declining to strike the summary testimony of IRS Agent Tama Mitchell. Agent Mitchell testified that the Count Three and Count Seven taxpayers each paid a portion of their IRS refund money to Ms. Ulloa. She moved to strike the testimony as beyond the scope of a summary witness because it was beyond Agent Mitchell’s personal knowledge. The district court denied the motion. On appeal, Ms. Ulloa argues that Agent Mitchell’s testimony relied on inadmissable hearsay and put the imprimatur of the Government on the testimony of two witnesses who were motivated to curry favor with the Government based on their immigration status. The Government counters that Agent Mitchell merely summarized the testimonial evidence from the taxpayers in order to show that the money was deposited into Ms. Ulloa’s account. We review a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Maldonado–Garcia, 446 F.3d 227, 231 (1st Cir. 2006). The district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to strike the agent’s brief, summary testimony. This court has found in the past that allowing an IRS agent to testify summarily is useful in tax cases as long as the testimony “does no more than analyze facts already introduced into evidence” and “the witness does not directly address the ultimate question” in the -11- case. See United States v. Stierhoff, 549 F.3d 19, 28 (1st Cir. 2008)(tax evasion). Agent Mitchell’s testimony fits within the confines of that rule. The jury heard the same testimony from the taxpayers themselves. Agent Mitchell merely summarized the money trail for each fraudulent refund, using the taxpayers’ own testimony. Ms. Ulloa has not raised, and nothing in the record demonstrates, that Agent Mitchell expressed an opinion on whether Ms. Ulloa intended to file false tax returns. See id. This point of error is rejected.