The Best Evidence Rule (FRE Rule 1002) is discussed in this chapter, along with many alterations of it by the rules that follow it numerically. For purposes of this discussion, please review the court case at these web addresses is the same case (so you only need to review one of the url links)
https://openjurist.org/314/f3d/1279/united-states-v-romano
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14620769958996613040
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/76042/united-states-v-anthony-graziano-romano/
https://cite.case.law/f3d/314/1279/
The case included evidence against the defendant (and evidence that was disclosed to defendant) that would have been entered as Public Records (FRE Rule 1005) and as duplicates (FRE Rule 1003) because the evidence included public records of Defendants prior convictions for felonies and the evidence included records (or the lack of records) in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Records.
The defendant was charged with possession of a Ruger Mini-14 .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle after having been convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and, in Count Two, with possession of a destructive device that had not been registered to appellant in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Records, in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5841, 5845(a)(8), (f), 5861(d), and 5871.
From there the case became complicated after the defendant entered a plea agreement (in this case a lengthy document that also became a public record when it was entered into the court file, and then became part of the appellate record when the defendant appealed his enhanced sentence). http://members.ij.net/rex/romanoappeal.html
Even today, the government basically creates cases by acquiring records from pawn shops (which can be copies / duplicates) and then cross-references them with public criminal records to find felons who have pawned guns and then arrests the felons and sends them to prison.
That technique creates easy safe cases, which some people consider to be of questionable value, and they also criticize it because it does not necessarily involve stopping more important crimes of violence and protecting the public (i.e. the felons have divested themselves of the guns by pawning them). Trials of such cases (e.g. the gun pawn cases) are very simple because they rely on the Rules stated above and essentially involve the entry of records (duplicates or originals) into evidence and then waiting to see if the defense attorney has any defense to present. That is why so many of the cases in up with plea agreements.
Please discuss the chapter and the cases mentioned.