## Facts

- Clifford Olson was prosecuted in federal court for the first-degree murder of Clifford George Albers on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin.
- On April 10, 1977, Albers’s body was found in the Wolf River on the reservation.
- Trial testimony from Wanda Dick, Brenda LaRock, and Ella Peters described a night of drinking and driving with Olson and others, during which Albers was seized and placed into Olson’s car.
- The group drove to an area known as South Branch; Albers was blindfolded and taken into the woods, where a fire was built and drinking continued.
- Dick testified Olson struck Albers’s leg or ankle with an ax and then shot Albers in the face; Dick then shot Albers once after Olson handed her the gun.
- The body was wrapped, placed in a trunk, transported to a bridge, and thrown into the river.
- Bullets and lead fragments were recovered from the body and/or crime scene, sealed, and sent through law-enforcement channels to FBI facilities.
- An FBI agent later opened sealed containers and repacked items for shipment; the agent died before trial, leaving some handling details undocumented through live testimony.
- Olson objected to admission of the bullets/fragments and a lead fragment recovered at the scene, arguing the government failed to establish an adequate chain of custody.
- Olson was indicted in 1980; the indictment was dismissed without prejudice on the government’s motion. He was reindicted in 1985, tried, and convicted by a jury.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by admitting bullets and lead fragments despite incomplete chain-of-custody proof, including a missing link caused by a handler’s death.
2. Whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, was sufficient for a rational jury to convict Olson of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the bullets and fragments, including the lead fragment recovered at the scene.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find Olson guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Legal Principles

- Physical evidence is admissible upon a showing of a reasonable probability that the item is what the proponent claims and has not been materially altered.
- The proponent need not establish a perfect, “every-hand” chain of custody or eliminate all possibilities of tampering.
- Absent evidence of actual alteration or tampering, gaps or uncertainties in the chain of custody generally affect the weight of the evidence for the jury, not its admissibility.
- On sufficiency review, an appellate court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and upholds the verdict if any rational trier of fact could find the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt; credibility determinations are for the jury.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit upheld Olson’s first-degree murder conviction, ruling that incomplete chain-of-custody proof did not bar admission of bullets and fragments where the government showed reasonable precautions and no material alteration, and that eyewitness testimony corroborated by physical evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict.


United States v. Olson, 846 F.2d 1103 (7th Cir. 1988)