Opinion ID: 3002664
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the CI’s Statements

Text: The defendant argues that the admission of the CI’s statements (concerning the identity of the person selling 8 No. 08-1307 crack from 805 East Republic) through Batterham’s testimony violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him. As we noted earlier, Irby did not object to the introduction of the statements. The initial question is whether this is properly characterized as a waiver or a forfeiture. “Whereas forfeiture is the failure to make the timely assertion of a right, waiver is the ‘intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right.’ ” United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993) (quoting Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464 (1938)). Plainerror review under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b) allows us to correct errors which were forfeited in the district court. Id. at 731. However, if a right was waived, there was no error and thus even plain-error review is unavailable. United States v. Babul, 476 F.3d 498, 500 (7th Cir. 2007). The record shows that Irby simply failed to make a timely assertion of his right; he said nothing to indicate intentional relinquishment or abandonment. This means that there was only a for- feiture, and we can proceed with plain error review. The plain-error standard comprises three requirements and one discretionary component. United States v. Sawyer, 521 F.3d 792, 796 (7th Cir. 2008). The defendant must show there was 1) an error 2) that was plain 3) that affected his substantial rights. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732. If these three conditions are met, we may exercise our discretion to rectify the error but only if it “seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). We often have stated that this last part of the plain-error standard requires a “miscarriage of No. 08-1307 9 justice” before we will reverse. See, e.g., United States v. Anderson, 450 F.3d 294, 299 (7th Cir. 2006). The Sixth Amendment provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” U.S. Const. amend. VI. The Confrontation Clause applies only to hearsay, see Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 59-60 n.9 (2004) (citing Tennessee v. Street, 471 U.S. 409, 414 (1985)), that is “testimonial” in nature, Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 823-25 (2006). In Crawford, the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause enables a defendant to bar the admission of testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless the witness was unavailable to testify and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine him. 541 U.S. at 53-54. In Davis, the Court said that statements made in the course of a police interrogation are testimonial “when the circumstances objectively indicate that there is no . . . ongoing emergency, and that the primary purpose of the interrogation is to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution.” 547 U.S. at 822. Although the CI’s statements were probably testimonial hearsay per Davis, Irby’s counsel may have had good reasons for not objecting to their introduction; nevertheless, we will assume arguendo that their admission was plain error.4 4 We have previously suggested that plain-error review is illsuited for claimed confrontation-clause violations when there (continued...) 10 No. 08-1307 Under the third prong of the plain-error standard, Irby must demonstrate that his substantial rights were affected, i.e., but for any confrontation-clause error the outcome of the trial probably would have been different. United States v. Prude, 489 F.3d 873, 880 (7th Cir. 2007). We conclude he cannot make this showing in light of the following overwhelming evidence of his guilt. One of the arresting officers testified that Irby took a bag of marijuana out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground just before he was arrested near Saraceno’s car, and a drugtrafficking expert testified that this amount of marijuana was worth ten dollars. The police video that was received into evidence showed the bag on the ground near Irby. The video also showed a ten-dollar bill resting 4 (...continued) may have been strategic reasons for a defendant not to object to the admission of testimonial hearsay. United States v. Moon, 512 F.3d 359, 361 (7th Cir. 2008). In this case, had Irby raised and the district court sustained a confrontation-clause objection to the hearsay statements, the result could have been the live and potentially more forceful testimony of the CI from the witness stand. Faced with this prospect, it may have been to Irby’s advantage to let the statements come into evidence through Officer Batterham. In addition, the defendant may have decided that, after the first hearsay statement came into evidence identifying Irby as the person who was selling crack at 805 East Republic, it was best to let it and all similar subsequent statements quietly pass before the jury rather than calling undue attention to them while trying to put the cat back in the bag. Because we decide the case assuming the presence of plain error, we need not speculate further. No. 08-1307 11 between the seat and passenger door of Saraceno’s car. Officer Batterham testified that he observed Irby go in and out of the house at 805 East Republic on two separate occasions: one when he fed a dog and the other just before the raid. The video showed that the defendant’s state identification card, social security card, and mail addressed to him at 805 East Republic were present in the master bedroom. The video also showed a pan of loose marijuana and several bags of marijuana on the bed in the master bedroom, four scales, and a grocery bag that contained several bags of marijuana and fifty-nine baggies of crack. The three cameras guarding the front of the house were on the video. The monitors located in the master bedroom that were receiving a live-feed from these cameras were also on the video, as was the scanner from the same room that was tuned to the frequency used by the Peoria Police Department. The bag of marijuana that Irby dropped before he was arrested, the ten-dollar bill from Saraceno’s car, Irby’s state identification card, social security card, and mail addressed to him at 805 East Republic were admitted into evidence, as were the marijuana, 16.9 grams of crack, four scales, two monitors and scanner from the master bedroom, and the three surveillance cameras. This array of evidence that was presented to the jury was compelling proof that Irby was in the illegal drug business and specifically that he possessed with the intent to distribute more than five grams of crack. Because Irby has not shown that his substantial rights were affected by the admission of the CI’s statements, we have 12 No. 08-1307 no occasion to exercise our discretion to reverse under the fourth part of the plain-error standard.
The defendant also claims that the district court erred in admitting the CI’s statements because they were inadmissible hearsay under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Irby did not raise this objection at trial, so we review for plain error. Even if these statements were hearsay not covered by any exception and the district court erred in admitting them, for the same reasons stated in our discussion of his confrontation-clause challenge we conclude that such error did not affect Irby’s substantial rights.