Opinion ID: 77132
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Admission of Hearsay and Opinion Evidence

Text: 51 The appellants' fifth and final contention of error on appeal regards the district court's admission of three pieces of evidence: an e-mail describing Wyman as a con man, a letter advising Lee that her actions constituted check fraud, and testimony describing Wyman's and Lee's actions as clearly illegal. A district court's admission of evidence is examined for abuse of discretion. United States v. De La Mata, 266 F.3d 1275, 1300 (11th Cir.2001); see generally United States v. Frazier, 387 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir.2004) (finding that evidentiary rulings are reviewed deferentially for abuse of discretion). Lee and Wyman first object to a letter written by a Citizens employee to Lee stating, Please be advised that issuing apparently negotiable instruments drawn against a bank account that you know may well be closed is check fraud. The second hearsay objection relates to an e-mail composed by a Capital City Bank employee stating, Wyman is a con artist. The appellants contend that these are out-of-court statements that invaded the province of the jury on a pivotal issue and tainted the jury. 52 Our examination of the transcript, however, reveals that the district court judge admitted these statements not for their truth, but for the non-hearsay purpose of showing notice that the financial transactions were not recognized and were unlawful. In their opening statements, appellants' counsel suggested that the various banks involved in this case either did not believe these checks were illegal or did not clearly inform Wyman or Lee that their check-writing scheme was wrongful. Instead, defense counsel suggested that the problem was simply that these banks were too small and unsophisticated to negotiate offset checks. We do not believe it was an abuse of discretion to admit these statements for the non-hearsay purpose of showing the banks were aware that these transactions were wrongful and actually informed the appellants of this fact. 53 Wyman and Lee also object to the district court allowing First South's counsel to testify that appellants' actions in fighting the foreclosure suit were illegal. Putting the challenged statement in context, Mr. Robbins, an attorney handling the foreclosure action, was asked on direct examination to discuss the content of Lee's legal filings. On cross examination, Robbins was asked whether Lee was entitled to fight against a lawsuit by filing the sort of documents at issue, such as opposition to a motion to dismiss. Robbins conceded that there was nothing inappropriate in making such a filing. Upon redirect examination, the government then asked Robbins if it was appropriate to write a check on a closed account to pay off a mortgage. Robbins then testified that Lee was not entitled wrongly to state in a court filing that she had paid off the mortgage, nor was she entitled to write bad checks. As the district court pointed out in overruling the defense objections, the redirect questions as to the legality of Lee's actions opened the door to the government's follow-up question to Robbins. We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing this testimony to go before the jury. On this basis, we affirm the admission of evidence.