Opinion ID: 275377
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of Hearsay Declarations

Text: 16 Appellant next contends that the evidence implicating appellant, independent of Valentine's reocunting of Wilson's extra-judicial declarations, was insufficient to establish prima facie the concerted action between appellant and Wilson necessary to authorize the admission against appellant of Wilson's statements spoken in appellant's absence. It is clear that such statements are inadmissible when no independent evidence links the declarant to the defendant, Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 74, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), and equally clear that once some conspiracy, agency, or concert of action is independently shown, Lutwak v. United States,344 U.S. 604, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953), United States v. Accardi,342 F.2d 697 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 954, 86 S.Ct. 426, 15 L.Ed.2d 359 (1965), hearsay statements made in furtherance of such relationship, United States v. Krulewitch, 336 U.S. 440, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790 (1949), are admissible. However, the independent evidence need not, as appellant suggests, be so clear and convincing as to compel, absent contradiction, a finding of the fact sought to be proved. 17 The threshold requirement for admissibility is satisfied by a showing of a likelihood of an illicit association between the declarant and the defendant although it might later eventuate that the independent evidence so admitted proves to be insufficient to justify submitting to the jury the issue of defendant's alleged guilty involvement with declarant. United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 387 (2 Cir. 1964), cert. denied sub nom. Mogavero v. United States, 379 U.S. 960, 85 S.Ct. 647, 13 L.Ed.2d 555 (1965); United States v. Ross, 321 F.2d 61, 68 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 894, 84 S.Ct. 170, 11 L.Ed.2d 123 (1963). If the issue is submitted to the jury it then becomes the function of the jury, not the trial judge, to determine whether the evidence was credible and was convincing beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Publiese, 153 F.2d 497, 500 (2 Cir. 1945); Carbo v. United States, 314 F.2d 718, 737 (9 Cir. 1963), cert. denied, Palermo v. United States, 377 U.S. 953, 84 S.Ct. 1625, 12 L.Ed.2d 498 (1964). In determining preliminary questions of fact relating to admissibility of the hearsay the trial judge has wide discretion, United States v. Von Clemm, 136 F.2d 968, 971 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 320 U.S. 769, 64 S.Ct. 81, 88 L.Ed. 459 (1943), and need only be satisfied, if he accepts the independent evidence as credible, that that evidence is sufficient to support a finding of a joint undertaking, Carbo v. United States, supra at 737; United States v. Borelli, supra at 387, quoting from United States v. Pugliese, supra at 500. 18 Moreover, the independent evidence of illicit association may be totally circumstantial, Bartlett v. United States,166 F.2d 920, 925 (10 Cir. 1948); see United States v. Garguilo, 310 F.2d 249, 253 (2 Cir. 1962), and may, as here, include evidence of acts of the accused occurring after the time at which the association is alleged to be in existence, United States v. Costello, 352 F.2d 848, 855 (2 Cir. 1965), cert. granted, 383 U.S. 942, 86 S.Ct. 1195, 16 L.Ed.2d 205 (1966). Nor is it necessary in this circuit that such independent evidence be inconsistent with all reasonable hypotheses of innocence, as appellant suggests, either to legitimate its admissibility, see United States v. Brill, 350 F.2d 171, 173 (2 Cir. 1965), cert. denied sub nom. Hyman v. United States, 382 U.S. 973, 86 S.Ct. 550, 15 L.Ed.2d 465 (1966), or to support a conviction, United States v. Woodner, 317 F.2d 649, 651 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 903, 84 S.Ct. 192, 11 L.Ed.2d 144 (1963). It is true that an association with an alleged conspirator, without more, is insufficient to establish the necessary foundation for the admissibility of the incriminating statements, United States v. Stromberg, 268 F.2d 256, 267 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, Lessa v. United States, 361 U.S. 863, 80 S.Ct. 119, 4 L.Ed.2d 102 (1959); United States v. Bentvena, 319 F.2d 916, 949, 955 (2 Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Mirra v. United States, 375 U.S. 940, 84 S.Ct. 360, 11 L.Ed.2d 272 (1963); United States v. Cimino, 321 F.2d 509, 510 (2 Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 974, 84 S.Ct. 491, 11 L.Ed.2d 418 (1964). The accused must 'in some sort associate himself with the venture,    participate in it as in something that he wishes to bring about    (or) seek by his action to make it succeed.' United States v. Peoni, 100 F.2d 401, 402 (2 Cir. 1938). Such association may be shown by possession and transportation of the subject matter of an illicit transaction plus participation in the proceeds thereof, e.g., Mack v. United States, 326 F.2d 481 (8 Cir.), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 947, 84 S.Ct. 1355, 12 L.Ed.2d 309 (1964), as by the defendant's driving the car in which negotiations took place and the transaction was consummated, simon v. United States, 78 F.2d 454, 455-456 (6 Cir. 1935); cf. Ong Way Jong v. United States, 245 F.2d 392, 395 (9 Cir. 1957), or by the defendant's driving the car transporting the illicit subject matter under circumstances indicating a possession thereof. United States v. Garguilo, supra at 253. Mere presence at the scene of an offense when the accused is likely to be aware that an offense is to occur may be sufficient to base an inference of complicity when such presence either facilitates, Garguilo, supra at 253, or permits, e.g., United States v. Arrow Packing Corp., 153 F.2d 669, 670 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 327 U.S. 805, 66 S.Ct. 962, 90 L.Ed. 1030 (1946) the unlawful act. An otherwise innocent act of 'relatively slight moment,' Garguilo, supra at 253, may, when viewed in the context of surrounding circumstances, justify an inference of complicity, see, e.g., United States v. Lev, 276 F.2d 605, 608 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 363 U.S. 812, 80 S.Ct. 1248, 4 L.Ed.2d 1153 (1960), and the fact that the defendant maintained a silence throughout, while often relevant to his awareness and role in the transaction, does not conclusively negate his participation in it. Mack v. United States, supra at 486. 19 The instant record lays a solid foundation for a prima facie judicial finding that appellant conspired with Wilson in the illegal sale of narcotics. Although he was never shown to have transported or to have been in possession of narcotics, appellant clearly facilitated Wilson's sales to Valentine by driving Wilson to his meetings with Valentine and driving him to the source of the narcotics sold on January 10. Any claim on appellant's part of lack of awareness of the nature of the transaction is forcefully contradicted by several undisputed facts. Although the initial conversation between Wilson and Valentine in appellant's presence was masked in the 'slanguage' of narcotics dealings and was not necessarily comprehensible to the uninitiated, their second conversation in appellant's presence and within his hearing included specific references to 'narcotics.' Moreover, the frequent interchangeable references by Wilson to 'Bill' and to 'my man' created a strong inference that appellant (whose identity as 'Bill' was established when Wilson so addressed him on the evening of January 20 and indicated that 'Bill' had given to Wilson the non-narcotic powder that Wilson, in turn, had delivered to Valentine) was in fact not a mere casual facilitator, but Wilson's supplier. This inference was bolstered by Wilson's modification of the price and quantity of narcotics available for sale to Valentine after Wilson had returned to appellant's car during the first January 10 meeting, and was also bolstered by all the events of January 20 when Wilson give appellant Valentine's money and then appellant subsequently produced the glassine envelopes that Wilson delivered to Valentine as being narcotics. All the foregoing events were testified to by Valentine, were in evidence independent of Wilson's hearsay statements to Valentine, and, if accepted as credible, established beyond question that appellant did in fact 'associate himself with the venture.' United States v. Peoni, supra at 402. Inasmuch as such evidence was apparently credible and was never contradicted by the defense, we hold that it is adequate to comply with the requirements for the admissibility against an alleged conspirator of a coconspirator's hearsay declarations. See United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 387 (2 Cir. 1964), cert. denied sub nom. Mogavero v. United States, 379 U.S. 960, 85 S.Ct. 647, 13 L.Ed.2d 555 (1955). 20