Opinion ID: 1968753
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A. The February 18 Incident

Text: On February 18, 1991, as Allen Tayman was removing a briefcase from the trunk of his car, two men robbed him at gunpoint and drove away in his car. About ten days after the robbery, Tayman viewed a photographic array at the United States Attorney's office. The Assistant United States Attorney then prosecuting the case laid the photos on the desk in front of Tayman one at a time and asked him if he recognized any of them. After viewing several photos, Tayman picked one of Fields and identified him as the gunman. He then viewed the photos a second time in order to be certain, and again selected the same photo. The photo array was mounted on a posterboard for trial and admitted without objection in the government's case-in-chief. Tayman also made an in-court identification of Fields as the gunman. Additionally, phone records introduced into evidence at trial showed that on the night of the robbery phone calls were made from Tayman's car phone to the phone numbers of Doreen Kelly and Patricia Ashe. Tayman did not know either Ms. Kelly or Ms. Ashe, but Ms. Kelly was an acquaintance of Fields and Ms. Ashe was Fields' girlfriend and the mother of his son. Although Fields took the stand at trial, he said nothing about the February 18 charge and presented no evidence with respect to it by way of alibi or otherwise.