UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard LABANSAT, Defendant-Appellant

Richard Labansat appeals his conviction on two counts of unarmed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a). Labansat contends the district court erred by denying his application for funds to hire an eyewitness identification expert, admitting evidence that he possessed drugs at the time of his arrest, and faffing to give a requested jury instruction on eyewitness identification. We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

On November 12, 1993, a La Mesa branch of the Bank of America was robbed by a man wearing a wig, hat and sunglasses. Four days later, a La Mesa branch of the Wells Fargo Bank was robbed by a man wearing sunglasses and leather gloves with knuckle holes. Both robberies occurred during business hours and were witnessed by bank tellers and customers. Surveillance cameras captured both robberies on film.

Immediately before the Wells Fargo robbery, a bank customer saw two suspicious individuals in an automobile parked outside of the bank, wrote down the license number of their car, and reported her observations to a bank teller. The license number was subsequently supplied to the Federal Bureau of…