Opinion ID: 551535
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: admission into evidence of ledgers

Text: 45 Sawyer asserts that the ledgers seized during the government's various searches and admitted over his objection constitute hearsay, were not properly authenticated, and that none of their authors was identified. 46 We review on an abuse of discretion standard. U.S. v. Metallo, 908 F.2d 795, at 798-799 (11th Cir.1990). Rule 901 of the Federal Rules of Evidence requires authentication or identification of a document as a condition precedent to its admissibility. Fed.R.Evid. 901(a). The government may authenticate a document solely through the use of circumstantial evidence, including the document's own distinctive characteristics and the circumstances surrounding its discovery. Fed.R.Evid. 901(b)(4); U.S. v. Elkins, 885 F.2d 775, 785 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1300, 108 L.Ed.2d 477 (1990). The ledgers here include references to Sawyer and to co-defendants. They are composed of special color and notation codes, similar to those found on containers of narcotics during searches and on business cards seized from Hicks's person. They were seized from residences owned or used by Sawyer and by the other defendants in the case. These circumstances confirm that the author or authors of the ledgers were intimately involved in the operation of the narcotics conspiracy at issue in the case. This is sufficient for purposes of Rule 901; the specific identity of the author is not necessary. See U.S. v. Reyes, 798 F.2d 380, 383 (10th Cir.1986); U.S. v. Helmel, 769 F.2d 1306, 1312 (8th Cir.1985); U.S. v. Drougas, 748 F.2d 8, 26 (1st Cir.1984); U.S. v. De Gudino, 722 F.2d 1351, 1355 (7th Cir.1983). 47 The government demonstrated by sufficient evidence that the ledgers were statements made by Sawyer's co-conspirators during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy and thus were not hearsay under the federal rules. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). The evidence of record at the time Sawyer made his objection, in addition to the ledgers themselves, sufficed to prove by a preponderance that such a conspiracy existed, that Sawyer was a member of it, and that the ledger entries were made during it and in furtherance of it. See Bourjaily v. U.S., 483 U.S. 171, 175, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 2778, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987). The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting them. Accord Helmel, 769 F.2d at 1312-13; De Gudino, 722 F.2d at 1356. 48