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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document535 _ Filed 12/09/21 Page4of8
exhibit and that he recognized “many, many, many, many names” amongst the entries, including
some of the entries that were for “massage in Palm Beach.” /d. at 851.
The Defense first objects that Mr. Alessi has no personal knowledge about the creation of
this particular directory and is thus incapable of authenticating the exhibit. Mr. Alessi
acknowledged that GX 52 was a different version than the directories he was familiar with
because GX 52 was not as thick as those versions, and his name and his wife’s name were in the
version he observed, but neither his name nor his wife’s name was in GX 52. Id. at 853, 865.
But a document may be admitted under 901(b)(4) even when no witness saw the creation of the
document or the particular copy admitted at trial.
For example, in United States v. Al Farekh, 810 F. App’x 21 (2d Cir. 2020), the court
affirmed the district court’s authentication of handwritten letters even though no testifying
witness confirmed they had previously examined the letters. Instead, testimony that the
“appearance, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics” of the
letters were consistent with other letters previously observed was sufficient to satisfy Rule 901.
Id. at 24-25. Similarly, in Tin Yat Chin, the Second Circuit affirmed the admission of copies of
credit card receipts despite uncertainty about who signed the receipts and when. 371 F.3d at 38;
see also United States v. Gordon, 634 F.2d 639, 643-44 (1st Cir. 1980) (referring to
authenticated documents as “parallel documents” with distinctive characteristics such as being
printed on the “same stationary,” to “indicate a common authorship”). Finally, cases have
allowed a witness to authenticate emails under Rule 901(b)(4), even if they were not a recipient
of the specific email being admitted, when the witness had a history and familiarity with the
defendant’s email communication tendencies. See, e.g., United States v. Bertram, 259 F. Supp.
3d 638 (E.D. Ky. 2017); see also United States v. Gasperini, 16-CR-441 (NGG), 2017 WL
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Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00008306.jpg |
| File Size | 729.0 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.1% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,147 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:33:33.369143 |