United States v. Robert Eugene Kennedy

Appellant was indicted, tried and convicted in a jury trial on two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) and (d) [bank robbery].

BACKGROUND

A Phoenix, Arizona bank was robbed on March 8, 1971. That afternoon a teller (Layton) in the bank was asked to look at 50 to 60 photographs in what is commonly known as the “Mug” book. She selected one of the pictures as “generally resembling” the robber. Appellant’s picture was not in the book. On the evening of March 8, 1971, after flashing a huge roll of bills, appellant was arrested. The serial numbers on some of the bills matched the “bait” money which was delivered to the bank robber. That night appellant was photographed and his photo, together with six others, shown to Layton. She selected appellant’s photograph as that of the robber, though she said she could not make an “absolutely positive identification” from a photograph. Prior to trial, appellant asked an FBI agent to arrange for a “line-up” so as to test the Layton identification. The request was not granted. On trial, Layton positively identified appellant as the robber and, on cross-examination, said that the photos played no role in the in-court identification…