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Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 488 Filed 11/22/21 Page3of6
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a copy attested by the officer with legal custody of the record—or
by the officer's deputy—and accompanied by a certificate that the
officer has custody. The certificate must be made under seal:
... (it) by any public officer with a seal of office and with official
duties in the district or political subdivision where the record is kept.
Fed. R Civ. P. 44(a)(1); see Fed. R. Evid. 902 Advisory Committee Notes (“Rule 44(a) of the
Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 27 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure have provided
authentication procedures of this nature for both domestic and foreign public records.”).
Il. Discussion
The Minor Victims’ birth certificates are certified and sealed by the appropriate officials,
and are therefore self-authenticating under Fed. R. Evid. 902(4). See Ball v. A.O. Smith Corp.,
451 F.3d 66, 71 (2d Cir. 2006) (“The original transcript, which includes a certification by the court
reporter, is self-authenticating. See Fed. R. Evid. 902(4).”); United States v. McGee, 439 F. App'x
837, 839 (11th Cir. 2011) (“We have held that to satisfy the requirements of Rule 902(4), a
certification need only identify the legal custodian's position of authority, and that the copy is true
and correct.”).
At the threshold, domestic birth certificates are “public records” within the meaning of
Federal Rule of Evidence 902(4). See Fed. R. Evid. 803(9) (providing a hearsay exception for
“Public Records of Vital Statistics,” including “[a] record of a birth . . . if reported to a public
office in accordance with a legal duty.”).
Pursuant to Rule 902(4)(A), a copy of such a record is self-authenticating if “certified as
correct by: . . . the custodian or another person authorized to make the certification.” Fed. R. Evid.
902(4)(A). That is the case for each of the birth certificates:
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Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00007403.jpg |
| File Size | 636.5 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 93.7% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 1,904 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:22:51.348327 |