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bedroom unlocked in order to deter another housemate who liked to
snoop in others' belongings. Even discounting such reservations,
Ms. Warren's testimony that the denominations of the bills were
"twenties, fifties and one hundreds" and that the bills were
"wrapped in little bitty bundles", is, in any event, flatly
inconsistent with petitioner's claim that the money was just
"loosely laying" in the can, and consisted of mainly tens and
twenties.
Moreover, Ms. Warren could not testify as to what was below
the first layer of cash that she purportedly saw. In addition,
she did not remember the color of the alleged canister or its
condition; she recalled only that it was metal. She also failed
to perceive any odor emanating from the money despite the fact
that much of the cash spent by petitioner in 1989 and 1990
smelled musty and mildewed.
Petitioner testified that Ms. Warren first revealed to him
that she had observed money in his bedroom when petitioner
questioned her in connection with her possibly testifying to that
effect. Petitioner said that a mutual friend, Scott Shaw, had
previously informed him that Ms. Warren had seen such money in
petitioner's possession. However, upon direct examination by
respondent, Mr. Shaw testified that he was never told by Ms.
Warren that petitioner possessed a large sum of cash and that Ms.
Warren never talked to him about seeing it. Mr. Shaw himself
saw, at most, only a thousand dollars in petitioner's bedroom at
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