United States v. Ford, No. 11-2034 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of armed bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. 2113(a), and sentenced to the statutory maximum of 240 months, in part because of previous convictions for the same crime. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, upholding exclusion of a defense witness on the ground that he was an alibi witness and the defense had not given the prosecution the notice required before trial by FRCP 12.1(a). The proposed testimony, that defendant was calm at his employment as a personal trainer two hours after the robbery, would have no probative value. The court also rejected a challenge to the photo array shown the bank manager, whom the robber had confronted after forcing entry shortly after the bank had closed. The array was suggestive, but any error was harmless. There was no doubt that the dust mask found outside the bank was the robber’s, and DNA found on the dust mask matched defendant’s DNA; all of the bank employees gave a description that matched defendant.
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