Opinion ID: 760837
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Admission of 801(d)(2)(E) Evidence

Text: 83 The last of Sargent's arguments is that the district court erred in allowing the Government to introduce a tremendous number of undisclosed statements of co-conspirators at trial. He gives but one example of a statement he is challenging on appeal--that McClellan told Pam she had transported, albeit unknowingly, thirty pounds of marijuana from Arizona to Indiana. Thus, we will rule only on this one statement and not the alleged tremendous number of statements Sargent refers to; for the Court of Appeals does not have a duty to comb the record in order to discover possible errors. United States v. Williams, 877 F.2d 516, 519 (7th Cir.1989). 84 While a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at trial, is inadmissible as hearsay if it is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted, see Fed.R.Evid. 801(c) and 802, such a statement is not hearsay if it is offered against a party and is ... a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). On March 27, 1997, Sargent moved to compel the Government to submit to the court each and every 801(d)(2)(E) co-conspirator statement it intended to introduce at trial. The Government promptly tendered the following written proffer of the co-conspirator statements it planned to offer in evidence: 85 Statements between and among Judy Brewer, Otis McClellan, Gary Johnson, Donna Brewer, Ozzie Hernandez, and John Sargent and other members of the conspiracy regarding: deliveries of marijuana from Arizona to Indiana; making arrangements to meet; the manner in which the marijuana would be delivered and received in Indiana; the role and participation of various members of the conspiracy; arrangements for the transportation, receipt and delivery of marijuana [from] Arizona to Indiana; arrangements and payments with regard to transportation expenses for delivering marijuana; and arrangements concerning payments of currency to be returned to various members of the conspiracy. 86 Sargent filed a motion thereafter in opposition to this proffer. He argued that the court should have conducted a pre-trial hearing to determine the admissibility of the 801(d)(2)(E) statements and that the nature of the statements made it impossible to ascertain whether they were made in furtherance of the conspiracy. The district judge conditionally overruled Sargent's objections to the introduction of the co-conspirator statements and conditionally admitted them, subject to a determination at the close of the evidence, that the Government did in fact prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the statements of the coconspirators were made in furtherance of the conspiracy. 87 At trial, while examining Pam, the prosecuting attorney posed questions regarding her trip out to Arizona in May of 1996 and, more specifically, asked her whether McClellan had informed her that she had transported thirty pounds of marijuana, wired in the undercarriage of the vehicle she was driving, when she arrived in Indiana. Pam responded that McClellan had told her as much when she arrived in Anderson, Indiana, and that she recalled telling him that she had no knowledge that she was transporting drugs until he so advised her. At no time when this testimony was elicited did Sargent make an objection on any grounds. Now, on appeal, he contends that the trial judge committed error in allowing the introduction of Pam's testimony into evidence because the Government's pre-trial written proffer did not specifically set forth what statements it intended to elicit from her. We disagree. 88 In United States v. Santiago, 582 F.2d 1128 (7th Cir.1978), we espoused that  '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 in furtherance of the conspiracy, the hearsay is admissible'  under Rule 801(d)(2)(E). Id. at 1134 (quoting United States v. Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20, 23 (1st Cir.1977)). As we pointed out in United States v. Rodriguez, 975 F.2d 404, 409-10 (7th Cir.1992), relying on our holding in Santiago setting forth that there is more than one acceptable procedure which the district court may rely on in determining whether the hearsay is admissible: 89 One method we have expressly approved ... is to make a preliminary determination, based on Government proffers of evidence, whether to conditionally admit the statements subject to a reevaluation at trial if the Government fails to provide evidence supporting the assertions contained in the proffer. However, [w]e have also approved other procedures a district court can employ in making the preliminary admissibility determination required by Santiago, including the following: the court can rule on each statement as it is elicited based on the evidence the Government has adduced to that point; the court can, even in the absence of a pretrial proffer, conditionally admit the body of coconspirator's statements subject to the Government's eventual proof of the foundational elements (the penalty for not so providing being a possible mistrial); or the court can hold a full blown preliminary hearing to consider all evidence concerning the statements. United States v. Andrus, 775 F.2d 825, 836-37 (7th Cir.1985) (we discouraged the latter as inefficient and potentially duplicative). 90 (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation omitted). The defendant claims that the Government is bound to give notice in advance of trial of co-conspirator statements it intends to introduce at trial. Relying on the language quoted above, the court has more than one method to use when considering the admissibility of co-conspirators statements. In fact, as noted in Rodriguez, this Court has gone so far as to discourage[ ] the [practice of holding a pre-trial testimonial hearing] as inefficient and potentially duplicative. Id. Thus, we refuse to hold that the trial court committed error in admitting Pam's testimony without first having required the Government to include her statement in its pre-trial 801(d)(2)(E) proffer.