United States v. Lonnie Perry, 61 F.4th 603

Oct and Nov 2017: two armed robberies in Omaha (Select Mart; VP Racing Station) captured on security video; robber used a Taurus 9mm and exhibited similar movements and shoes across incidents.
At the VP Racing Station robbery the robber partially exposed his face and shot at a fleeing car.
Day after the VP robbery, officers arrested Lonnie Perry near a Runza and recovered a stolen Taurus 9mm from a trashcan; DNA analysis made it likely Perry touched the gun; Perry later pled guilty in state court to possessing that firearm.
Fingerprints from the Select Mart door handle matched Perry; ballistics examiner Rebecca Learned concluded a bullet from the VP robbery was fired from the recovered Taurus.
Perry was convicted by a jury of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) and related 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) firearm offenses; he appealed arguing (1) the firearms expert was unqualified and (2) the evidence was insufficient to convict.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed, holding the expert testimony admissible and the evidence sufficient when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Perry)	Defendant's Argument (Government)	Held
Admissibility of firearms/bullet expert testimony	Learned lacked firearms/ballistics training and thus was unqualified under Fed. R. Evid. 702	Learned had a M.S. in forensic science, ATF Academy training, 8+ years as a forensic examiner, and prior firearm comparisons; gaps go to weight, not admissibility	Court affirmed admission: Learned was qualified by education, training, and experience; no abuse of discretion
Sufficiency of evidence of identity (that Perry was the robber)	No eyewitness courtroom ID; challenges to fingerprint, ballistics, and DNA reliability	Video, fingerprint match at Select Mart, partial facial exposure on VP video, ballistics linking VP bullet to recovered Taurus, and modus operandi links between robberies	Court held evidence sufficient; circumstantial evidence and inferences support conviction
Sufficiency of interstate commerce nexus for Hobbs Act robbery	Testimony that store sold out-of-state goods insufficient or not credible to prove effect on interstate commerce	Employee testimony that store sold products from outside Nebraska, viewed in gov’t favor, suffices to establish nexus	Court held the evidence supported the interstate-commerce element; credibility questions for jury

United States v. Coutentos, 651 F.3d 809 (8th Cir. 2011) (standard for reviewing expert-testimony admissibility)
Robinson v. GEICO Gen. Ins. Co., 447 F.3d 1096 (8th Cir. 2006) (expert gaps generally affect weight, not admissibility)
United States v. Finch, 630 F.3d 1057 (8th Cir. 2011) (doubts about usefulness of expert testimony resolved in favor of admissibility)
Kozlov v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 818 F.3d 380 (8th Cir. 2016) (qualifications sufficient where education and experience support expertise)
Fox v. Dannenberg, 906 F.2d 1253 (8th Cir. 1990) (credibility and weight of expert testimony are for the trier of fact)
United States v. Hyles, 521 F.3d 946 (8th Cir. 2008) (courtroom ID not necessary if evidence permits inference that defendant committed charged acts)
United States v. Flores, 362 F.3d 1030 (8th Cir. 2004) (circumstantial evidence can satisfy guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1978) (trial court should not weigh evidence or assess credibility when ruling on acquittal motion)
United States v. Hassan, 844 F.3d 723 (8th Cir. 2016) (district courts must not assess witness credibility on sufficiency review)