Opinion ID: 2519777
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statements of the Co-defendants.

Text: {28} Defendant contends that the trial court erred when it permitted the introduction of the custodial interviews given by the four defendants to the Albuquerque police in Kansas. In the statements the four gave to the police, they all denied any involvement in the murders and gave an innocent explanation for how they came to be in possession of the car of one of the murder victims. At trial, the State offered the statements to show that the co-defendants were engaged in a conspiracy to cover up their responsibility for these crimes, and they were admitted on that basis. The jury was given a limiting instruction when the statements were first introduced, and then later during jury instructions, that the statements were being admitted for the limited purpose of attempting to prove that a conspiracy existed among Defendant and the co-defendants. {29} On appeal, Defendant asserts that these statements were inadmissible hearsay. A hearsay statement is an out-of-court oral or written assertion offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted therein, Rule 11-801(A), (C) NMRA 2002, and is inadmissible absent an exception under the rules of evidence, Rule 11-802 NMRA 2002. However, if an out-of-court statement is offered in evidence merely for the purpose of establishing what was said at the time, and not for the truth of the matter, the testimony is not hearsay. Rule 11-801; accord 5 Jack B. Weinstein & Margaret A. Berger, Weinstein's Federal Evidence § 801.11[1], at 801-11 (Joseph M. McLaughlin ed., 2d ed. 2002) (If the significance of an offered statement lies solely in the fact that it was made, no issue is raised as to the truth of anything asserted.) (quoting Fed.R.Crim.P. 801 advisory committee's note). {30} The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the statements by the four co-defendants. The statements were not admitted into evidence to prove the truth of anything said by the co-defendants, but rather to show the opposite-that the statements were untrue. See Anderson v. United States, 417 U.S. 211, 220, 94 S.Ct. 2253, 41 L.Ed.2d 20 (1974) ([T]he point of the prosecutor's introducing those statements was simply to prove that the statements were made so as to establish a foundation for later showing, through other admissible evidence, that they were false.); State v. Lujan, 103 N.M. 667, 674, 712 P.2d 13, 20 (Ct.App.1985) (concluding that an attempt to deceive police shows a consciousness of guilt).