wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) (03/30/91)
An MCI bill is the key evidence in a murder trial now underway in downstate New York. A woman is on trial for killing her husband's lover, and the question is where she was at a certain time. For an alibi, she has produced an MCI bill showing a long distance call made from another place to her mother at the critical time. MCI says that the bill is not theirs, for two reasons. 1) It omits a logo that was on all MCI bills at the time but which was removed shortly after. So, if the bill is a forgery, it was copied from a later bill. 2) MCI's copy of the bill, and their master tapes, which were first thought to have been destroyed, show no such call. In contrast, at that time they show a call from the defendant's home to a gun shop. The judge disallowed as evidence a printout from the master tape since the MCI person in court had not personally printed it out himself, but had been mailed the printout. Using that reasoning I'm surprised the judge didn't rule out all evidence from a magtape in general, since how can you prove provenance of a tape? Presumably the DA will now get the original person who printed the record to testify. Anyway, this appears to be the first use of laserprinter fraud in a murder case. I wonder who actually did it, since they haven't said that the defendant is a techie. After they convict her, they should convict her mother for perjury, and disbar the lawyer if they can show he knew the bill was forged. Wm. Randolph Franklin Internet: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (or @cs.rpi.edu) Bitnet: Wrfrankl@Rpitsmts Telephone: (518) 276-6077; Telex: 6716050 RPI TROU; Fax: (518) 276-6261 Paper: ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180