United States v. Ernest James Collins

The appellant was indicted, tried by a jury, and convicted of armed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) and (d). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On November 3, 1976, Laverne Schultz, a teller at the Crocker National Bank, San Francisco, California, activated bank surveillance cameras as she was being robbed. An hour after the robbery, she and another employee, Matthew Parks, gave descrip tions of the robber to the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. The following day, Schultz and Parks also identified the man in the surveillance photographs as the robber. Since the identity of the robber was not yet known, the FBI distributed the surveillance photographs to various law enforcement officials.

On December 7,1976, a correctional officer alerted the FBI when he concluded that the appellant was the man shown in these photographs. A six photograph photospread was prepared and .ready for showing two days later. From the spread, Schultz identified the appellant’s picture as the one who “could be the man who held me up.” Parks identified the appellant’s picture as “the most likely suspect.” On the same day, an informant positively identified the appellant from the surveillance…