Opinion ID: 6033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Refusal to Admit Handwriting Report

Text: 26 Brown contends the district court erred in refusing to admit a handwriting report prepared by the government's analyst that stated Brown could not be identified or eliminated as the writer of the Jackie Brown signature on the Express Mail package receipt sent to Brown's address by Fortner. The report stated that the signature evidence[d] features and characteristics consistent with disguised writing and was possibly written with the writer's unaccustomed (awkward) writing hand. Once again, we review the district court's evidentiary ruling for abuse of discretion. Vasquez, 953 F.2d at 182. In this case the analyst did not testify and the government only presented evidence that Fortner was instructed to (and did) send the cash to a person by the name of Jackie Brown at an address later confirmed to be Brown's home address. The government did not attempt to prove that the signature on the receipt was genuine. Therefore, the information contained in the handwriting report was not exculpatory, and, as previously noted, the proof against Brown was overwhelming. Accordingly, any error in this respect was harmless.