Opinion ID: 2427354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hearsay Statements of Cooperating Witnesses

Text: Defendants argue that the district court erred by provisionally admitting alleged hearsay testimony by certain cooperating government witnesses, without having later made a final determination that such testimony satisfied Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E)'s requirements for the admission of co-conspirator testimony. [20] The argument is without merit. On the first day of trial, the government elicited testimony from García-Heredia about certain statements made to him by González about their intention to go ahead with the attempted assassination of the Las Palmas leader. González's counsel objected to the testimony on the grounds that it was hearsay, and argued that for the statement to be admissible the court had to make a finding that García-Heredia was engaged in a conspiracy with the Defendants. The court responded that, under our precedent in United States v. Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20 (1st Cir.1977), it could make a tentative determination that González and García-Heredia were members of a drug conspiracy, and if the statement was in furtherance of the conspiracy, it could be admitted. The court stated that it would make final determinations on these issues after it heard all the evidence. González's counsel agreed, and there was no further inquiry. (This came up again during the testimony of Casiano, with respect to statements made to him by alleged members of the conspiracy during his undercover assignment at Juana Matos. Fernández's counsel objected on hearsay grounds, and the district court made the same ruling, i.e., that it could only make a final ruling at the close of the evidence. At the close of the government's case, neither the Defendants nor the government requested a final ruling from the court on the admissibility of any of the provisionally admitted co-conspirator testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), and the court did not make one. Under Petrozziello, the out-of-court declaration of an alleged coconspirator may be admitted into evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) if it is more likely than not that the declarant and the defendant were members of a conspiracy when the hearsay statement was made, and that the statement was made in furtherance of the conspiracy. United States v. Castellini, 392 F.3d 35, 50 (1st Cir.2004) (citing Petrozziello, 548 F.2d at 23). The trial court is not required to decide what has come to be called in this Circuit the Petrozziello question prior to admitting the statement, but may admit it provisionally subject to making a final determination at the close of all the evidence. United States v. Ortiz, 966 F.2d 707, 715 (1st Cir.1992). [21] We ordinarily review such determinations for clear error, but where, as here, the defendant fails to request a final Petrozziello ruling prior to verdict, this Court will vacate the defendant's convictions on this ground only upon a showing of plain error. Avilés-Colón, 536 F.3d at 14 (Our precedent clearly establishes that to preserve a hearsay objection to the admission of a co-conspirator's statement, the objection must be renewed at the close of all of the evidence.); see also United States v. Perez-Ruiz, 353 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir.2003); Ortiz, 966 F.2d at 715-16. On appeal, Defendants failed to identify the allegedly hearsay statements on which they base their claim. Absent identification of the challenged statements, [w]e cannot conduct effective appellate review of ... evidentiary ruling[s] admitting coconspirator statements under ... Rule 801(d)(2)(E). United States v. Isabel, 945 F.2d 1193, 1199 (1st Cir.1991); see id. (finding waiver where appellants failed to identify the challenged hearsay statements). Without specification of the statements, we cannot determine whether they were hearsay, and if so, whether the evidence supported application of the exception for co-conspirator statements in furtherance of the conspiracy. [22]