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9 Akron L. Rev. 184 (1975-1976)
Criminal Law - Admissibility of Voiceprints Not Limited to Corrobrative Purposes - United States v. Franks

handle is hein.journals/aklr9 and id is 196 raw text is: AKRON LAW REVIEW CRIMINAL LAW Admissibility of Voiceprints Not Limited to Corroborative Purposes United States v. Franks, 511 F.2d 25 (6th Cir. 1975) O N FEBRUARY 12, 1975, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided United States v. Franks,' affirming a district court ruling, which permitted the use of voiceprints2 for purposes of identification and marking the first occasion in which a circuit court had held such evidence admissible. Defendants Franks and Britton were convicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee of obstructing commerce in violation of the Hobbs Act,3 and of 18 U.S.C. Section 2 (1970).' The jury found the pair guilty of procuring others to bomb two Memphis businesses, namely Jett Hair Care Center and Tri-State Beauty Supply, whose operations affected interstate commerce. In addition, Franks and Britton were convicted of aiding and abetting the malicious damaging of, and the attempt to destroy the establishments by means of an explosive, 1511 F.2d 25 (6th Cir. 1975). 2 Voiceprints are photographic representations of sound waves produced by a device called a spectograph. The voiceprint technique is based on the theory that no two human voices are exactly alike, thus resulting in identification by comparing the voiceprint of an unidentified person with that of an identified one. If the two prints should match, the unidentified speaker has been determined. Although seemingly akin to fingerprint identification, voiceprint analysis is often likened to the lie detection technique in that the reliability depends significantly on the expertise of the examiner. Detractors of voiceprints dispute the uniqueness of a person's voice, and alternatively question the effects of the passing of time or impersonation in relation to the spectrogram produced. Opponents characterize the necessary subjective spectrographic analysis as an increased chance for error of an already questionable method of identification. See Kamine, Voice- print Technique: The Structure and Reliability, 6 SAN DIEGO L. REv. 213 (1969); Kersta, Speaker Recognition and Identification by Voiceprints, 40 CONN. BAR J. 586 (1966). 8 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a) (1970), which reads: Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. 4 That section reads as follows: (a) Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal. (b) Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him or another would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal. [Vol. 9:1

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