Opinion ID: 2321578
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Villatoro's Out-of-Court Statement Imputed to Robles-Benevides

Text: Robles-Benevides objects to Benítez's testimony at trial about an out-of-court statement made by Villatoro: [Villatoro] said to me that he was going to get out on bail. I told him not to lie, that he had been involved with the thing with the street guy and that he had thrown rocks and bottles and he just laughed. Citing Akins, defense counsel objected at trial to the admission of this statement against Robles-Benevides as a coconspirator, presumably because the statement was made in jail and was not in furtherance of the conspiracy. See Akins, 679 A.2d at 1028 (in a joint conspiracy trial where the government relies on a theory of vicarious liability, statements may be introduced under the coconspirator exception to the rule against hearsay only if they were made in furtherance of the conspiracy). The trial court overruled the objection, noting that it had specifically instructed the jury that the statement could be used only against Villatoro. As the trial court pointed out, although the government had charged the codefendants with conspiracy to assault or murder, it was not asking for the instruction that everything be attributed to coconspirators. Cf. Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946) (an overt act of one coconspirator is attributable to all coconspirators). The trial court, therefore, considered the rule in Akins to be inapposite. There is no error in the trial court's ruling. As the government did not seek to attribute Villatoro's actions and statements to the other codefendants on a theory of vicarious liability (as agents), the trial court correctly overruled the objection defense counsel raised based on Akins. Moreover, Robles-Benevides does not identify how Villatoro's out-of-court statement incriminated him; Benítez never testified that Villatoro said anything implicating Robles-Benevides. As a result, there was no prejudice requiring severance of Robles-Benevides's trial. Inexplicably, Villatoro incorporates Robles-Benevides's argument on this point, but the hearsay statement was admissible against Villatoro as an admission. See Powell v. United States, 414 A.2d 530, 533 (D.C. 1980) ([A]n admission by a party ... may be entered into evidence despite the fact that the party does not testify.).