United States v. Myers

Larry Allen Myers (defendant) was charged with a bank robbery he denied committing, though a friend who resembled him, Dennis Coffie, later pleaded guilty as the gunman. At trial, the prosecution introduced two episodes as evidence of flight: in Florida, Myers avoided FBI agents for weeks, ran from them at a shopping mall when they approached without identifying themselves, and left the state about three weeks after the robbery; in California, Myers and Coffie were riding a motorcycle when agents drove at them, causing a near collision, after which disputed testimony conflicted over whether the two men moved away from the bike once they pulled over. After a first trial ended in a hung jury, a second jury convicted Myers, and he appealed the flight instruction as unsupported by the evidence.