He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney on Wednesday did not return a message seeking comment.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett approved the prosecutors’ motion for the handwriting exemplars on Oct. 17.
“The government currently possesses a number of documents purportedly prepared by and used by the defendant to unlawfully acquire a Heckler & Koch model HK416, caliber 5.56 x 45 machine gun from a federally licensed firearm dealer,” reads the motion signed by assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Keller. “Assuming these forged signatures of Sheriff Fischer can be forensically tied to the defendant, said evidence would be materially relevant to proving the defendant’s culpability.”
The motion cited case law that said handwriting is like speech, and that there is no more expectation of privacy in the physical characteristics of a person’s script than there is in the tone of their voice.
The motion states: ” The 5th Amendment bars the compulsion of self-incriminating testimony or communications, but not the compulsion of ‘real or physical evidence.’ … The Supreme Court has specifically held that compelling a defendant to submit a handwriting exemplar does not violate the 5th Amendment.”
Spicer has been charged with illegal possession of a machine gun, making a false representation, making a false statement during purchase of a firearm, knowingly making false entry on an application, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of such a weapon in violation of the National Firearms Act.
“The defendant’s handwriting may be highly probative of his guilt,” the motion stated. “A match of the defendant’s handwriting to the suspected forged signatures of (Fischer) appearing on the above referenced documents would indicate criminal knowledge and intent.”
About the Author