Opinion ID: 346660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The FBI Computer Printouts

Text: 6 At trial two sets of computer printouts prepared by the FBI were introduced into evidence by the Government. One set tabulated the information disclosed by the employee labor distribution cards the originals and the forged cards to show the discrepancies between them. Over each column of the first group of printouts was a heading, and the inside cover of the exhibit contained a key which explained the meaning of each heading. The key was as follows: 7 MEANING OF HEADINGS ------------------- LISTING HEADER DESCRIPTION -------------- ----------- Voucher Hours = Billed by NHA per Voucher ------------- No Time Card Support Worked Hours = Original Time Taken From ------------ Time Cards Billed Hours = False Time Taken From ------------ Time Cards Amount of Voucher = Billed by NHA per Voucher ----------------- No Time Card Support Amount for Hours Worked = Original Cost Supported by ----------------------- Time Cards 8 The second set of printouts tabulated the information on the billings submitted to AVSCOM and cross-referenced this information to the original and forged employee labor distribution cards. The exhibit was designed to show as to each voucher how much time the Government was charged for in excess of the time actually spent on AVSCOM work. The printouts contained columns with the following headings: original data, falsified data, falsified data summarized, and difference between original/false. 9 Appellants objected to the use of the two sets of printouts on the ground that the column headings and the explanatory key constituted improper conclusions which invaded the province of the jury. The objection was overruled, and the exhibits were admitted. In charging the jury at the end of the trial, the court instructed that these computer printouts were not evidence and were only received as summaries of the labor distribution cards original and forged and the billings, which were in evidence. Appellants contend that this instruction failed to cure the error earlier committed in allowing the jury to be exposed to the conclusory matter appearing on the printouts. 10 The evidentiary use of summaries at trial is controlled by Fed.R. of Evid. Rule 1006, which provides: 11 The contents of voluminous writings, recordings or photographs which cannot conveniently be examined in court may be presented in the form of a chart, summary, or calculation. The originals or duplicates, shall be made available for examination or copying, or both, by other parties at reasonable time and place. The court may order that they be produced in court. 8 12 Prior to the adoption of Rule 1006 the law governing the evidentiary status of summaries and therefore their use was unsettled. Striking differences had developed within and among the circuits, no doubt causing the district courts to resort to various approaches in handling summaries at trial. In theory the scope of judicial treatment ranged from the view that summaries were not evidence, see e.g., Conford v. United States, 336 F.2d 285, 288 (10th Cir. 1964), to the view that they were. See e.g., Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. Collins Dietz-Morris Co., 80 F.2d 441 (10th Cir. 1935). Among the opinions treating summaries as evidence the more liberal school required no underlying documents to be received in evidence as a foundation for the summaries. All that was required was that the underlying documents be made available to opposing counsel for cross-examination purposes. See e.g., In Re Shelley Furniture, Inc., 283 F.2d 540, 543 (7th Cir. 1960). The summaries were therefore given an independent evidentiary significance and could be introduced on the strength of the preparer's foundation testimony, thereby avoiding the need to receive voluminous documentary evidence at trial. 9 Under the most restrictive view summaries were never accorded the position of evidence. Rather, they were treated as jury aids designed to clarify voluminous documentary evidence already in the record and to provide a manageable perspective for the jury in its deliberations. Juries were not permitted to see the summaries unless every fact reflected was established by evidence in the record. See, e.g., United States v. Moody, 339 F.2d 161 (6th Cir. 1964); Hoyer v. United States, 223 F.2d 134 (8th Cir. 1955). 13 One viewing the Fifth Circuit opinions cannot clearly ascertain its position regarding the status of such summaries either. This Court has sometimes followed the liberal view; on occasion it has followed the more restrictive view. Compare Greenhill v. United States, 298 F.2d 405 (5th Cir. 1962) and New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. W. D. Felder and Co., 214 F.2d 825 (5th Cir. 1954) with United States v. Prevatt, 526 F.2d 400, 404 (5th Cir. 1976) and United States v. Diez, 515 F.2d 892, 905-06 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1052, 96 S.Ct. 780, 46 L.Ed.2d 641 (1976). 10 14 Prior uncertainties regarding the status of summaries are now resolved by Rule 1006. Although the word evidence does not appear in its text we construe the rule as treating summaries as evidence under circumstances where, in the court's discretion, examination of the underlying documents in a trial setting cannot be done conveniently. This construction is compelled by the rule's history and by the fact that the rule requires only the availability of the underlying documents. 15 That the court below did not apply the rule so as to receive the summaries in evidence is understandable in light of the conflicting case law. We are convinced, however, that under any application of Rule 1006 the use of these summaries at trial was not error. In applying the rule the trial court followed the most restrictive approach indicated in our prior opinions. This approach, from the appellants' perspective, was calculated to be the least prejudicial. The court could have excluded all of the underlying documents and received the summaries as evidence. The court chose, however, to admit these documents in evidence and to instruct the jury that the summaries were not evidence. 11 Moreover, in light of appellants' objections to the characterizations the Government utilized in the summary headings the cautionary instruction given by the trial judge was entirely appropriate, if not necessary, for it neutralized their possible prejudicial effect. Thus, whether or not the trial court had received the summaries as evidence under Rule 1006, the cautionary instruction, insofar as it emphasized that the characterizations were not evidence, would have made the remainder of the summaries admissible under the rule. 12 16 In fine, we reject appellants' claim that the district court's treatment of the summaries unduly prejudiced their trial. In permitting the jury to utilize them, the court proceeded well within the discretion accorded it under Rule 1006. The original and forged employee labor distribution cards were in evidence. The computer printouts merely tabulated the information they disclosed. As for the headings, they accurately explained the significance the Government attached to the tabulations. In this sense the headings reflected certain assumptions, but these assumptions were amply supported by the evidence already before the jury. By instructing the jury that the summaries were not evidence, however, the trial judge took one further step to insure that the jury would not rely on the conclusory matter as independent proof of the appellants' guilt.