Opinion ID: 3160112
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Email Evidence About Baker

Text: Baker asserts that the district court erred in admitting an email containing hearsay statements that he had been warned to stop giving potential investors false information about the investments. The email was admitted during the government’s examination of Jennifer Nakamori, Cinamour’s Los Angeles office manager during the time Baker worked for that office. Nakamori wrote the email to Glen Hartford in August 2002. It included the following statements: Paul [Baker] brings in money because he’s giving investors false information. We’ve given him 5 warning[s] already and he still can’t get it right. . . . You [Hartford] are the one who told me that Paul [Baker] would be let go after one more warning. You told me this morning that we are accepting money from investors who’ve been given false promises. It sounds like we're just taking money from anyone. How can we make a movie this way? What’s going to happen in the future? They may come back and you will be held liable. Paul, Evan, Matt, and everyone else will just walk away happy with their commission monies in their pockets. Nakamori’s information that Baker gave potential investors and victims false information came only from “[t]hings I heard in the office” and was “[j]ust rumors that I heard.” Nakamori could not remember who said the “things” or spread the “rumors.” Hartford told her that he had warned Baker not to give false information or make false promises 60 UNITED STATES V. LLOYD about the investments. Nakamori could not remember hearing Hartford warn Baker. Baker objected to the email and Nakamori’s testimony about it. His objection was overruled and the email and related testimony were admitted. Baker renews his objection on appeal. We find an abuse of discretion in admitting the email and related testimony. Nakamori had no personal knowledge about whether Baker was making false statements to get victims to invest. Nor did she have personal knowledge about whether Baker had been repeatedly warned not to do this. The government argues that the email and Nakamori’s testimony about it are admissible because they were offered to show Baker’s state of mind—his knowledge that what he was telling investors was false—rather than for the truth of the matter stated. The problem is that unless the email contents and related testimony were true, they are not relevant to show Baker’s state of mind. The email does not show that Baker knew he was making false representations unless the statements that he was doing so and had been warned about it are accepted as true. The evidence was hearsay. We consider below whether the error was harmless in light of the other evidence properly submitted to the jury. See Frederick, 78 F.3d at 1381.