Opinion ID: 1313493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Codefendants' Trial Testimony

Text: The issues presented here regarding the admissibility of the codefendants' trial testimony are nearly identical to those presented in the companion case of State v. Aubid, 591 N.W.2d 472 (Minn. 1999). The trial court ruled that it would not admit any testimony given by codefendants Greenleaf and DeVerney at their joint trial, concluding that even if their trial testimony was admissible under the rules of evidence, the testimony must be excluded because it violated Martin's Confrontation Clause rights. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the testimony was admissible in its entirety. See State v. Martin, 567 N.W.2d 62 (Minn.App. 1997). As we did in State v. Aubid , we reverse the court of appeals and remand the issue to the trial court. The Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause provides that [i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right    to be confronted with the witnesses against him. U.S. Const. amend. VI. The Supreme Court has held that hearsay statements may be admitted against a criminal defendant if the statements fall under a firmly-rooted exception to the hearsay rule or if the statements bear particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 818-19, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990). In Aubid, we held the trial court did not clearly and unequivocally err by concluding that the non-self-incriminatory portions of Greenleaf's and DeVerney's testimony bore insufficient guarantees of trustworthiness to warrant admission. Aubid, 591 N.W.2d at 479. We did, however, approve of the trial court's admission of those portions, if any, of the codefendants' testimony that squarely fall within Minn. R. Evid. 804(b)(3), the hearsay exception for statements against penal interest, provided the trial court undertake on remand the required fact-intensive examination of the proposed testimony to determine which portions were truly self-inculpatory. Aubid, 591 N.W.2d at 480 (citing Williamson v. United States, 512 U.S. 594, 114 S.Ct. 2431, 129 L.Ed.2d 476 (1994)). As in Aubid, we hold that the court of appeals erred when it concluded that the entire portions of the codefendants' trial testimony bore sufficient indicia of reliability to merit admission under Minn. R. Evid. 804(b)(5) (the residual or catch-all hearsay exception) and the Confrontation Clause. We are satisfied that the circumstances surrounding the testimony are not cloaked with such guarantees of trustworthiness that even the non-self-inculpatory portions are admissible under either the catch-all exception to the hearsay rule or the Confrontation Clause. We therefore remand this issue to the trial court for proceedings consistent with Aubid. [2]