Opinion ID: 2996075
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: constitutionality of fed. r. evid. 803(6)

Text: Klinzing asks this court to find the 2000 amendment to FED. R. EVID. 803(6) unconstitutional because it violates his rights as a criminal defendant under the Confrontation Clause. As amended, Rule 803(6) provides that the business records exception to the hearsay rule may be satisfied “by certification that complies with Rule 902(11), Rule 902(12), or a statute permitting certification, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.” Under Rule 902(11) a party may authenticate a business record through a written declaration by a qualified custodian that the record meets the necessary foundational requirements. Klinzing contends that Rule 803(6) violates his right to confront witnesses against him because the amended rule does not require the government to prove either the reliability of business records through foundation testimony or the unavailability of the foundation witness. Klinzing also claims that the amendment does not derive from a firmly rooted hearsay exception. In response the government argues that the amended rule is constitutional on its face for two reasons. First, the amendment to Rule 803(6) derives from a firmly rooted hearsay exception for business records. And second, the amendment makes the rule for admissibility of domestic business records the same as for foreign business records, which has repeatedly withstood Confrontation Clause challenges. Klinzing’s facial challenge to the constitutionality of amended FED. R. EVID. 803(6) is an issue of first impression in this and other courts of appeal. Despite the novelty of the question, we are not entirely without guidance on this issue. Amended Rule 803(6), and related authentication Rules 902(11)-(12), attempt to place domestic business records on par with foreign business records, whose rule for admissibility is codified at 18 No. 02-2080 11 U.S.C. § 3505. Both Rule 803(6) and § 3505 permit admission of pre-certified business records into evidence without confrontation of the record keeper by the opposing party, in this case a criminal defendant. Rule 803(6) was amended to avoid the expense and inconvenience of producing time-consuming foundation witness testimony in situations where the authenticity of the business records could be confirmed by written declaration pursuant to Rules 902(11)-(12). See FED. R. EVID. 803 advisory committee’s note (stating that Rule 902(11), Rule 902(12), and § 3505 provide adequate assurance of authenticity for business records without foundation testimony). When the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of admitting certain hearsay evidence in criminal trials, it held that the Confrontation Clause is satisfied when the proffered hearsay has sufficient guarantees of reliability to come within a firmly rooted exception to the hearsay rule. White v. Illinois, 112 S.Ct. 736 (1992) (holding that admission of excited utterances and medical examination evidence without foundation testimony or proving unavailability of witness did not violate Confrontation Clause of criminal defendant facing sexual assault charges). The reason for this is that “a statement that qualifies for admission under a ‘firmly rooted’ hearsay exception is so trustworthy that adversarial testing can be expected to add little to its reliability.” Id. at 743. Before it was amended, Rule 803(6) was considered a firmly rooted hearsay exception for certain business records that had adequate indicia of reliability. In fact, the foreign business records exception, § 3505, derived specifically from an earlier version of Rule 803(6) and has itself withstood Confrontation Clause attacks in several circuits. See United States v. Garcia Abrego, 141 F.3d 142 (5th Cir. 1998); United States v. Ross, 33 F.3d 1507 (11th Cir. 1994); United States v. Sturman, 951 F.2d 1466 (6th Cir. 1991); United States v. Miller, 830 F.2d 1073 (9th Cir. 1987). Given 12 No. 02-2080 this history, we see no reason to conclude that Rule 803(6) is any less firmly rooted as a hearsay exception now that it permits admission of pre-certified domestic business records without foundation testimony. Thus, we hold that amended Rule 803(6) does not on its face violate a criminal defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause.2