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No. 10-4768
COUNSEL
ARGUED: Terry Michael Meinecke, OFFICE OF THE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant. Robert Lynn McClellan, IVEY,
MCCLELLAN, GATTON & TALCOTT, LLP, Greensboro,
North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: John W. Stone,
Jr., Acting United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant.
OPINION
GREGORY, Circuit Judge:
This case is about what constitutes a proper inference for
a jury to draw when making determinations of guilt. Calvin
Bonner was found guilty of armed robbery by a jury in October of 2009. In June of 2010, after a renewed motion for a
judgment of acquittal, the district court overturned his conviction based on insufficient evidence. The government appealed
that ruling, arguing that, viewing the evidence in the light
most favorable to the government, the jury could have found
sufficient evidence to convict Bonner. We disagree with the
government and affirm the district courts opinion. We do so
on the grounds that the government failed to produce sufficient "identity" evidence placing Bonner at the robbery and
relied on unsubstantiated, unscientific inferences to bolster its
minimal evidence. We conclude that no reasonable jury could
find Bonner guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on the
evidence presented at trial.
I.
The defendant, Calvin Bonner, was indicted by a federal
grand jury in the Middle District of North Carolina on July
27, 2009. The indictment alleged interference with commerce
by robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951(A)(2) and the use
of a firearm during the crime in violation of 18 U.S.C.
924(c)(1)(A)(ii).
Trial commenced on October 21, 2009. At the close of the
governments case-in-chief, Bonner moved for a judgment of
acquittal pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal
Detective Stephanie Murphy indicated that the store video showed that
at least one of the robbers was 300 pounds, but no description of Bonner
is provided in the record so it is not clear if he matches that description.
The video was shot from above and the robbers were wearing bulky coats
and thus it was hard to make out their physical characteristics.
10
Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that forensic science is an imperfect and human endeavor, and that the Sixth
Amendments "Confrontation [Clause] is one means of assuring accurate forensic analysis." Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S. Ct. 2527, 2536-2537 (2009) (also
discussing cases of fraud, error, and "drylabbing," where
forensic analysts report results of tests that were never performed). Recently, the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the
idea that forensic testing of blood, via gas chromatograph, is
"simple or certain." Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. ___,
180 L. Ed. 2d 610, 617 (2011). Instead, the Court noted that
conducting such tests "requires specialized knowledge and
training. Several steps are involved in the gas chromatograph
process, and human error can occur at each step." Id.
More broadly, the Supreme Court has noted the "wide variability across forensic science disciplines with regard to techniques, methodologies, reliability, types and numbers of
potential errors, research, general acceptability, and published
material." Melendez-Diaz, 129 S. Ct. at 2537 (citations omitted). Melendez-Diaz also highlighted the conclusions of a
National Academy Report that "[t]he forensic science system,
encompassing both research and practice, has serious problems that can only be addressed by a national commitment to
overhaul the current structure that supports the forensic science community in this country." 129 S. Ct. at 2537 (citations
omitted). We must thus be particularly vigilant when the government, as in this case, asks us to rely on scientific evidence
as the primary basis for upholding a conviction. Our commitment to scrutinizing such evidence counsels against crediting
the governments assertions that the DNA evidence in this
case supported a guilty verdict against Bonner.
For the foregoing reasons, we find that the district court
correctly concluded that no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that Bonner was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Therefore, we affirm the district courts conclusion that there
was insufficient evidence to convict Bonner in this matter.
AFFIRMED