United States v. Irvin J. Waller

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

The defendant appeals his three and one-half year sentence for mail fraud. The record reveals, that defendant refused to provide police with a sample of his handwriting which the police needed to identify handwriting on various checks, allegedly fraudulently signed by defendant. When the government produced at trial a six year old fingerprint card with the defendant’s signature on it, the defendant excused himself temporarily from the courtroom, supposedly for the purpose of going to the restroom, and never returned.

The trial continued in his absence, however, and…