Opinion ID: 729705
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Residual Exceptions

Text: 37 Although the statements of the cardholders do not qualify as business records, both the written affidavits and the oral statements made to the bank personnel are admissible under the residual exceptions to the hearsay rule, Fed. R. Evid. 803(24) and 803(b)(5). The residual exceptions authorize the admission of hearsay statements having circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to those of the other enumerated hearsay exceptions, as long as the trial court determines that the statements are sufficiently material, probative, and in the interests of Justice. Fed. R. Evid. 803(24), 804(b)(5). 38 To satisfy the dictates of the Confrontation Clause, the evidence must be sufficiently reliable, that is, it must be supported by a showing of particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 66. These particularized guarantees of trustworthiness must be drawn from the totality of the circumstances surrounding the making of the statement, but they cannot stem from other corroborating evidence. Wright, 497 U.S. at 820-22; Scott, 62 F.3d at 140 & n.2. Although the Supreme Court's language in its decisions interpreting the Confrontation Clause regarding trustworthiness and reliability appears similar to the requirements set forth in the residual hearsay exceptions, we note that the two inquiries are not identical and that evidence admissible under the residual exceptions may still violate the Confrontation Clause. Wright, 497 U.S. at 814; United States v. Shaw, 69 F.3d 1249, 1253 (4th Cir. 1995). 39 The written affidavits of the cardholders and the oral statements made by the cardholders to the banks exhibit a high degree of reliability such that admission does not offend the Confrontation Clause. The Appellants impugn the reliability of the cardholders' statements on the grounds that the statements are self-serving because the cardholders, by informing the banks that they had not made specific charges, were able to avoid paying for those charges. The record, however, suggests otherwise. A fraud investigator at Citibank with 22 years of experience testified that he had participated in over 1000 fraud investigations and that he could remember only three or four instances in which the cardholder was lying about not making the charges. In addition, the record shows that issuing banks have an incentive to ensure the veracity of the cardholders' claims of fraud because loss due to fraud is borne by the issuing banks. We thus believe that the affidavits of the cardholders and the oral statements made to the bank personnel exhibit a degree of reliability similar to that of the statements Judged admissible in United States v. Simmons, 773 F.2d 1455, 1460 (4th Cir. 1985) (holding that the admission, under Rule 803(24), of an ATF gun certification form that had been filled out and signed by a weapon manufacturer did not violate the Confrontation Clause because the form was highly reliable). 40 In addition, the trustworthiness of the statements at issue is so clear from the surrounding circumstances that cross-examination of the 265 non-testifying cardholders would be of marginal utility. See Wright, 497 U.S. at 820, Shaw, 69 F.3d at 1253. In this case, the trial court delayed ruling on the admissibility of the hearsay statements until after the Government had presented the testimony of five of the cardholders whose statements are at issue. The Appellants' cross-examination of these witnesses was minimal, and they did not make an issue of whether these witnesses were being untruthful. Finally, none of the Defendants in closing argument attacked the credibility of the cardholders; the crux of the defense was not whether the cards had been stolen. We thus conclude that there was sufficient indicia of reliability supporting the out-of-court statements by the credit cardholders such that admission of these statements under the residual exceptions to the hearsay rule does not violate the Appellants' Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses.