This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

In 2017, D's girlfriend was Janet Nicole Thompson. She testified for P at D's trial. Thompson had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting D in the successful robbery of a bank on August 25, 2017, and aiding and abetting D in the attempted robbery of a bank in Reagan, Tennessee, on October 14, 2017. Security cameras at each bank recorded the events (without audio), and the video footage was shown to the jury. On August 25, 2017, security cameras at a bank in Finger, Tennessee, recorded a lone man as he robbed the bank, while wearing full-body camouflage, a full-face camouflage ski mask, sunglasses, and black gloves. The robber arrived at the bank in a side-by-side utility vehicle and parked close to the bank's entrance. The bank manager, sixty-seven-year-old Dianne Talbott, and two tellers were working that day. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., the robber entered the bank and walked to the teller's counter, where Talbott was standing. He dropped some white garbage bags on the counter, pointed a handgun at Talbott, and demanded cash. The two tellers quickly came to assist. While waving his gun at the three employees and threatening to shoot them, the robber yelled at the tellers to get the money from their cash drawers. After the employees scrambled to put the cash in the bags, the robber demanded money from the vault and commanded Talbott to lie on the floor. Referring to Talbott, the robber told the tellers that 'if y'all don't hurry up, I'm fixing to kill this bitch.' They complied, and the robber left the bank with about $43,274.00. The robber was in the bank for a total of about seventy seconds. In a motion in limine, D moved to exclude bank manager Dianne Talbott's testimony identifying Howell as the Finger bank robber, arguing it is improper lay witness testimony under Federal Rules of Evidence 701 and 403. The district court denied the motion. D was convicted and appealed in part on the admission of the Talbott testimony.

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