Opinion ID: 166964
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Videotape Deposition

Text: 49 We review the district court's decision to admit evidence for abuse of discretion, and we will reverse only if we find the decision `arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or manifestly unreasonable.' Black v. M & W Gear Co., 269 F.3d 1220, 1227 (10th Cir.2001) (quoting Coletti v. Cudd Pressure Control, 165 F.3d 767, 777 (10th Cir.1999)). Although a videotape deposition typically qualifies as hearsay under the Federal Rules of Evidence, the hearsay exception for former testimony includes [t]estimony given ... in a deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom the testimony is now offered ... had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination. Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(1). The exception requires that the declarant be unavailable as a witness, which includes situations in which the declarant is absent from the hearing and the proponent of [the] statement has been unable to procure the declarant's attendance ... by process or other reasonable means. Fed.R.Evid. 804(a)(5). The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment also requires that prosecutors in a criminal case make a good-faith effort to secure the declarant's presence at trial. See Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 724-25, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 20 L.Ed.2d 255 (1968). 50 Counsel for the Atencios cross-examined Mr. Gambino Madrid during his deposition, but the Atencios charge that the government neither used reasonable means to secure Mr. Gambino Madrid's testimony nor acted in good faith by allowing him to return to Mexico. In this case, the government deported the witness to Mexico with nothing more than an address, a phone number, and a promise to return. To the surprise of no one, the number proved invalid, calling information in Mexico turned up no leads, and Mr. Gambino Madrid failed to appear in the United States for the trial. 51 Even if we were to accept that the government made no good faith effort to ensure Mr. Gambino Madrid's attendance at trial, however, reversal of the Atencios' convictions is only appropriate if the error affected their substantial rights. We may deem a constitutional error harmless only if we are convinced that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, United States v. Jefferson, 925 F.2d 1242, 1254 n. 14 (10th Cir.1991) (citing Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)), but in this case we have no doubt that admission of the videotape deposition did not prejudice the result of the Atencios' trial. In his deposition, Mr. Gambino Madrid stated that he witnessed Edward Atencio accept delivery of three shipments of marijuana totaling 540 pounds. He also testified that the Atencios owned one of the residences at issue in the case, that they loaned him a blue Pontiac Sunfire, and that he observed Mr. Atencio with a lot of cash. See R. Vol. I, pp. 178-84. Compared with the tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana described by other witnesses and reflected in the drug ledgers, 540 pounds is a drop in the bucket. Mr. Gambino Madrid's testimony also had no bearing on the quantity of cocaine, and the Atencios' large cash reserves and ownership of the residence and car were clear from other testimonial and documentary evidence. Based on a careful examination of the record as a whole, see United States v. Caballero, 277 F.3d 1235, 1243 (10th Cir.2002), we conclude that the district court's admission of Mr. Gambino Madrid's videotape deposition, even if erroneous, was harmless. 52