United States v. Larry Lee Martin

Larry Lee Martin was convicted of several crimes involving stolen securities, 18 U.S.C. § 2314 . On this appeal he assigns two errors. Neither has merit.

1. To establish that the instruments in question were genuine Canadian government bonds, as charged in the indictment, the trial court allowed one George Cossette to testify as an expert, over Martin’s objection. The witness at this time held the position of Custodian of Securities for the Provincial Bank of Canada; he was previously a bank manager; and, in the course of his regular banking duties over the years, he had personally handled and dealt with innumerable Canadian government bonds. The fact that the witness had never seen a forged bond did not, as Martin urges, render him unqualified. Had any of those bonds been counterfeit, in all probability they would have been returned to him. But none had. Thus, it was fair for the trial court to conclude, as it did, that the witness could, on the basis of his knowledge and experience, distinguish between bonds which were genuine and those which were counterfeit. See III, Wigmore on Evidence (Chadbourn revision 1970) § 705, p. 38.

2. There can be no doubt that the fact of…