Opinion ID: 468531
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of DEA Report Under the Past Recollection

Text: Recorded Hearsay Exception 22 As explained in part II, supra, the passage of time caused DEA agent Dever to substantially forget the content of his 1977 report so that he could do no more than authenticate the report, and the court admitted the report under the past recollection recorded exception. In their pre-indictment delay arguments, the defendants claimed that admission of the report under this exception prejudiced them because it violated their right of confrontation. They also argue that the report was inadmissible because it did not meet the requirements of the past recollection recorded exception. We have plenary power of review to determine whether the district court committed an error of law. Molerio v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 749 F.2d 815, 820 (D.C.Cir.1984). 23 Picciandra argues that the report should be excluded based on the holding in United States v. Oates, 560 F.2d 45 (2d Cir.1977), that law enforcement reports and evaluation reports of government agencies are inadmissible under the exceptions to the hearsay rule. Oates addressed the admissibility of a government chemist's official report and worksheet under the business records exception but stated in dictum that, because of confrontation clause problems under the sixth amendment, no law enforcement reports should be admitted under any hearsay exception. Id. at 83-84. Two courts, however, have taken exception with the application of Oates outside the business records exception. See United States v. Quezada, 754 F.2d 1190, 1193 (5th Cir.1985); United States v. Sawyer, 607 F.2d 1190, 1192-93 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 943, 100 S.Ct. 1338, 63 L.Ed.2d 776 (1980). Moreover, Oates is contrary to McGarry v. United States, 388 F.2d 862 (1st Cir.1967), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 921, 89 S.Ct. 1178, 22 L.Ed.2d 455 (1969), in which this court held that the admission of an IRS agent's record of a conversation with a defendant under the past recollection recorded hearsay exception under circumstances similar to the instant case is not an abuse of discretion. The exception is a discretionary aid in the search for truth and has indicia of trustworthiness. The guarantee of trustworthiness is found in the reliability inherent in a record made while events were still fresh in mind and accurately reflecting them. Notes of Advisory Committee on Fed.R.Evid. 803(5). McGarry, 388 F.2d at 869 n. 8. We conclude that the district court did not err in admitting agent Dever's report made at the time of his conversation with Picciandra.