Don is on trial in federal court for armed robbery. Prosec…
Don is on trial in federal court for armed robbery. Prosecutors allege that on New Years Eve, Don robbed a Vince of his phone and weapon. Vince was a secret service agent, providing security for a holiday event hosted by a local museum. The prosecution introduced evidence of a printout from an official government website showing the official sunset time on the night of the robbery. The prosecutor asks the court to take judicial notice of the fact that the sun had already set at 7:15 p.m., when the alleged incident occurred. The prosecution introduced evidence from an official government website showing the official sunset time on the night of the robbery. The prosecution also played an audio statement by the victim, taken immediately after the robbery, describing the robber’s appearance. The officer’s body worm camera was not working properly, so only the audio was available. The prosecutor offers the audio recording into evidence to show consistency with the Vince’s in-court identification of Don. Finally, the prosecution asked Vince if he had any contact with Don since the night of the robbery and he responded that Don had reached out about a week later and offered to pay Vince $10,000 if he “dropped the charges”. Vince also testified that he was allowed to observe a meeting between Don and the prosecutor where Don offered to plead guilty to battery if the prosecutor could arrange for him to say in a facility closer to Don’s family. The defense presents evidence from Vince’s ex-spouse that Vince suffered from severe PTSD and that his PTSD was the reason for their divorce. The defense also presents the print out from the toll lane transponder connected to Don’s vehicle, indicating that Don’s vehicle drove through a toll booth in another city, hours away, at 7:00pm on New Years Eve. Assume all hearsay and character issues are resolved. Assuming all other proper objections and motions to strike were timely made, should the court have admitted: Taken Judicial Notice of the sunset time? Discuss. The audio recording of Vince’s statement? Discuss. Vince’s testimony regarding contact with Don? Discuss. Vince’s testimony regarding Don’s conversation with the prosecutor? Discuss Testimony regarding Vince’s PTSD? Discuss. The toll lane transponder print out? Answer according to the Federal Rules of Evidence.