Opinion ID: 202406
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Number of citations

Text: 36 Kominsky testified at the first suppression hearing that he had issued over a hundred seatbelt citations just in this last year. To the government, and conceivably to the district court, this was important testimony. The government placed great emphasis on the frequency of Kominsky's seatbelt citations as an explanation for the inaccuracy of his recollection about Alford's car. In light of further questioning, however, neither Kominsky's tabulation nor the government's excuse held up. Asked the same question at trial, Kominsky said that he averaged 25 citations, admitted the inconsistency, and said that he had misunderstood the question how many seat belt violations have you written in the last year? 37 As Henderson points out, the record plainly belies Kominsky's statement — and the government's argument on appeal — that he misunderstood the question before stating that he issued 100 seatbelt citations a year. In response to follow-up questions at the first suppression hearing, Kominsky reiterated that he had written 100 seatbelt citations just in the last year, and that he issued a seatbelt citation every three days. There was no confusion by Kominsky. 38 At the second suppression hearing, defense counsel again impeached Kominsky on this point — with documentary evidence that Kominsky had averaged only fifteen seatbelt citations per year. Kominsky again had an excuse: he had issued more citations but they were missing from computer records because of his bad handwriting. 39