Praigg

ORDER DENYING MOTION RE HANDWRITING EXEMPLARS

The United States has petitioned for an order directing the defendant in this criminal proceeding to furnish exemplars of his handwriting. The defendant urges that handwriting exemplars fall within the protection of the Fourth Amendment and can be compelled only upon a showing of probable cause. This court agrees.

The relevant procedural background of the matter in issue is as follows:

1. On October 21, 1971, a complaint was filed with a United States Magistrate charging the defendant with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 495 . Attached to the complaint was an affidavit of Kenneth D. Provasi, Special Agent, United States Secret Service, which stated, in part, that the defendant had been identified by Sergeant Christiani, Forgery Division, Los Angeles Police Department, as being the person who had allegedly forged the signature on certain United States Savings Bonds which were the subject matter of the complaint. The affidavit of Special Agent Provasi indicated that Sergeant Christiani had compared handwriting exemplars from his files with the forged signature on the bonds, and that the signatures matched. A copy of the affidavit is…