## Facts

- The Government of the Virgin Islands prosecuted Jimmy Davis for unauthorized possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, along with other offenses.
- To prove Davis was not licensed to carry a firearm, the prosecution offered a report compiled by Cynthia Brown, a local police officer who served as the firearms-records custodian.
- Brown’s report consisted of a list of individuals licensed to carry a firearm in Brown’s police district.
- Davis’s name did not appear on Brown’s list.
- The prosecution also presented testimony from Sergeant John Felicien that the police department regularly maintained district records identifying persons licensed to carry firearms.
- Over defense objection, the trial court admitted Brown’s report under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(10) (absence of a public record) as proof that Davis did not have a firearms license.
- Davis was convicted and appealed, challenging the admission of Brown’s report.

## Issues

1. Whether a police firearms-records custodian’s list of licensed firearm holders is admissible under Fed. R. Evid. 803(10) to prove the defendant was not licensed when the defendant’s name does not appear on the list.
2. Whether the Government laid an adequate foundation under Fed. R. Evid. 803(10) through testimony describing the department’s regular recordkeeping and the compilation used to show non-licensure.

## Decision

- The appellate court upheld the trial court’s admission of Brown’s report under Fed. R. Evid. 803(10).
- The court affirmed Davis’s conviction, rejecting his argument that the licensing-list evidence was inadmissible for lack of a firearms license.

## Legal Principles

- Fed. R. Evid. 803(10) permits proof that a public record does not exist (or that a matter did not occur) by showing that a diligent search of the relevant public office’s records failed to disclose the record or entry.
- Evidence offered under Rule 803(10) requires a foundation that the office regularly keeps the type of record at issue and that the search or compilation reliably reflects the absence of the sought-after record.
- When lack of a firearms license is an element the prosecution must prove, the absence of an entry in the official licensing records may be shown through records-custodian evidence admitted under Rule 803(10), provided the foundation supports the reliability of the absence showing.

## Conclusion

*Government of the Virgin Islands v. Davis* addresses the prosecution’s use of police licensing records to prove non-licensure: the trial court admitted a firearms-records custodian’s district list (from which the defendant’s name was absent) under Fed. R. Evid. 803(10), and the appellate court sustained that evidentiary ruling and affirmed the conviction.


Government of the Virgin Islands v. Davis, No. 01/2002, 2002 V.I. LEXIS 47 (2002)