Case Involving Admissibility of Bank Camera Evidence During a Robbery

In United States v. Taylor, 530 F.2d 639, 641-42 (5th Cir. 1976), an automatic still camera in a bank was triggered only after a bank robber had locked the bank employees in the vault. Nevertheless, the United States presented testimony "as to the manner in which the film was installed in the camera, how the camera was activated, the fact that the film was removed immediately after the robbery, the chain of its possession, and the fact that it was properly developed and contact prints made from it." Taylor, 530 F.2d at 642. The Court of Appeals held that "such testimony furnished sufficient authentication for the admission of the contact prints into evidence." Taylor, 530 F.2d at 642.