U.S. v. Smyth

Citation
United States v. Smyth, 556 F.2d 1179 (5th Cir. 1977) (full-text).

== Appellate Court Proceedings

The defendant was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and defrauding the United States. The defendant objected to the admission of two sets of FBI computer printouts. The defendant argued that the printouts were simply summaries of records made for purposes of the prosecution and that the headings and explanatory keys were prejudicial.

The trial court had allowed the printouts to be introduced, but instructed the jury that they were not evidence but only summaries. The court had all of the underlying documents from which the summaries were made in evidence so that, in conjunction with the jury admonition, there were no prejudicial effects from the summaries.