Opinion ID: 2809264
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tampering with the N-18 Recording

Text: Exhibit N-18 is a recording of the transaction that occurred in Bray’s car between Conrad—in his capacity as Webb’s stand-in—and Lucas on October 14, 2005. Three forensic experts used spectrographic analysis and other advanced techniques to identify evidence that someone had tampered with the recording to delete material.4 The N-18 recording was recorded 4 The first expert examined a CD containing an “undercover body wire” recording and the recording device that made the original recording and identified five anomalies on the recording that could not have been created through the normal functions of the recording device. He highlighted three anomalies of greatest concern, each of which contained “sudden changes in ambient sound such as music[, which,] combined with a signature or anomaly is an indication of an edited or altered recording.” A second expert examined a copy of the recording and found the same three troubling anomalies. He was unable to determine their causes through the copied recording, and the original recording was no longer available. A third court-appointed expert examined a copy of the recording that was given to him by Cross and identified two deleted sections and concluded that both occurred before the main “drug conversation” and could have contained conversations between the “CI and his handlers.” Two other experts Nos. 14-3443/3444 Webb, et al. v. United States, et al. Page 27 on Lucas’s recording device. Metcalf made an “original copy” on a CD, and Lucas and Cross took custody of the CD from Metcalf until “it was submitted to the Cleveland Resident Office Non-Drug Evidence Custodian.” Webb alleges that one or more of these three Defendants fabricated evidence against him by tampering with the N-18 recording. Cross argues that he never had custody of the “original audiotape” that Lucas gave to Metcalf. United States’s Br. (14-3443) at 8. But the “original audiotape” was the storage card on Lucas’s recording device, and the forensic experts agreed that the recording device could not have been responsible for the deletions. Therefore, the deletions must have been made either when Metcalf created the “original copy” CD or after Lucas and Cross took custody of that CD. Lucas argues that any deletions to the N-18 recording would not have been material because loud music in Bray’s car made the deleted portions inaudible. See Lucas’s Br. (14-3443) at 47. But unaltered portions of the recording are comprehensible, and there is no way to know whether the deleted portions are inaudible because they were deleted, so this argument fails. Under such circumstances, a reasonable jury could find that one or more of Defendants who had custody of the recording deliberately tampered with the evidence. The district court nonetheless granted summary judgment to the Defendants because it concluded that Webb “has the burden to show some issue of fact as to what was deleted from the recording” but he “wholly fails to point to any evidence as to what would have been cut out or covered over.” Webb, 2013 WL 1303776, at . But it would surely be strange if Webb must furnish the content of the material excised from the recording when Webb was not a party to the recording, and the purpose of excising the material may have been to prevent Webb from accessing the material in the first place. Webb only needs to show that “a reasonable likelihood exists that the [tampered] evidence would have affected the decision of the jury.” Gregory, 444 F.3d at 737. The N-18 recording captured the entire drug deal for which Webb was charged. It was therefore reasonably likely that an altered recording would affect the jury’s decision. Willful spoliation of relevant evidence is generally punished by an adverse-inference jury instruction. See Automated Solutions Corp. v. Paragon Data Sys., Inc., 756 F.3d 504, 513 (6th Cir. 2014); Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 220 F.R.D. 212, 220 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). Similarly, we relied on solely visual and aural techniques to examine the N-18 recording and concluded that it contained no anomalies. Nos. 14-3443/3444 Webb, et al. v. United States, et al. Page 28 presume that unexplained tampering with relevant evidence would have an effect on the jury’s decision. Because there is a dispute of fact as to whether one of the Defendants who had custody of the N-18 recording deliberately deleted portions that presumptively were reasonably likely to affect the jury’s decision, it was improper for the district court to grant summary judgment to Lucas, Metcalf, and Cross.