USA v. Wells

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
JAMES MICHAEL WELLS,
Defendant.
Case No. 3:13-cr-00008-SLG
COURTESY NOTICE REGARDING FORTHCOMING ORDER
Pending before the Court is defendant James Michael Wells’ Motion to Exclude
the April 19, 2012 Government Driving Experiment Video. The Court issues this notice
as a courtesy to the parties because they are awaiting a ruling on the motion as they
prepare for trial to begin on September 9, 2019. The Court anticipates issuing a detailed
order no later than August 30, 2019. The Court expects the order to include guidelines
similar to the following:
• The Court declines to make a preliminary finding that the April 19 video is
conditionally relevant. However, the Court will not permit the video to be
introduced prior to a ruling being made regarding its conditional relevance.
The government may introduce evidence at trial to support its position that the
video is conditionally relevant pursuant to the standards set forth in Huddleston
v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 690 (1988), and then seek a ruling from the
Court that the standard has been met before playing the video or showing the
jury screen shots from the video.
Case 3:13-cr-00008-SLG Document 1154 Filed 08/23/19 Page 1 of 2

Case No. 3:13-cr-00008-SLG, United States v. Wells
Courtesy Notice Regarding Forthcoming Order Re: April 19, 2012 video
Page 2 of 2
• The government shall elect one northbound and one southbound pass shown
in the April 19 video to play at trial, subject to the following conditions.1
• The government shall include on the April 19 video an on-screen label clearly
indicating that the video is an “experiment that does not depict actual events
and only depicts an opinion of what may have happened” or similar language.2
This same label shall appear on any still images extracted from the April 19
video.
• The Court will give the jury a cautionary instruction using similar language.
• The government shall not play the April 19 video or show still images from that
video until after the jury has seen the April 12, 2012 T-1 surveillance video.
• Before the government plays any portion of the April 19 video or shows the jury
still images from that video, a witness shall authenticate and lay foundation for
the April 19 video. Accordingly, the April 19 video and still images from that
video shall not be shown during the government’s opening statement.
DATED this 23rd day of August, 2019, at Anchorage, Alaska.
/s/ Sharon L. Gleason
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
1 The forthcoming order will address the use of still images taken from the video.
2 See Hinkle v. City of Clarksburg, W. Va., 81 F.3d 416, 425 (4th Cir. 1996) (“Although there is a
fine line between a recreation and an illustration, the practical distinction is the difference
between a jury believing that they are seeing a repeat of the actual event and a jury
understanding that they are seeing an illustration of someone else’s opinion of what
happened.”) (quotations and citation omitted).
Case 3:13-cr-00008-SLG Document 1154 Filed 08/23/19 Page 2 of 2