Is a defendant's failure to comply with a court-ordered handwriting sample admissible on the basis of "consciousness of guilt"?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Flewitt, 981 F.2d 1260 (9th Cir. 1992):

We have held "[a]n attempt by a criminal defendant to suppress evidence is probative of consciousness of guilt and admissible on that basis." United States v. Castillo, 615 F.2d 878, 885 (9th Cir.1980). The defendant's failure to provide a court-ordered handwriting sample, as with fingerprints or a voice exemplar, "deprives the government of evidence that is directly related to the defendant's guilt or innocence of the underlying crime." United States v. Wagner, 834 F.2d 1474, 1484 (9th Cir.1987). The "consciousness of guilt" instruction allows "the jury [to] infer the defendant's guilty from his failure to comply with a court order to furnish a handwriting specimen...." Id.

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