Opinion ID: 2434794
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The alleged hearsay statements

Text: López-Capó's next claim is that various statements made by his co-conspirators and admitted at trial were inadmissible hearsay. Because López-Capó preserved his challenge to the district court's admission of these statements, we review for abuse of discretion. Vázquez-Botet, 532 F.3d at 65. Finding none, we affirm. López-Capó argues that the district court erred by admitting four statements, one made by García-Román and three made by Martínez de León. García-Román testified that Suki and Cesar, the alleged owners of the drug point, had told him that López-Capó brought drugs to Carioca from the metropolitan area. Martínez de León testified that: (1) Edwin Casiano-Roque, another co-conspirator, had instructed him to collect the tallies for López-Capó; (2) Casiano-Roque had told him that López-Capó lived in the metropolitan area; and (3) Suki had said that López-Capó cooked better crack than Cesar. [12] Statements made by a defendant's co-conspirators during and in furtherance of the conspiracy do not qualify as hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E). A district court faced with a challenge to the admission of a co-conspirator's statement must provisionally admit the statement and then wait until the end of the trial to consider whether, in light of all the evidence, the following four conditions are satisfied by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) a conspiracy existed; (2) the defendant was a member of the conspiracy; (3) the declarant was also a member of the conspiracy; and (4) the declarant's statement was made in furtherance of the conspiracy. Vázquez-Botet, 532 F.3d at 65; United States v. Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20, 23 (1st Cir.1977). Addressing the first two elements of the test, we have outlined the evidence that a conspiracy to distribute drugs operated at Carioca and that López-Capó was a member of that conspiracy. We thus need only address whether the declarants were also members of the conspiracy and whether their statements were made in furtherance of the conspiracy. The declarants' statements alone cannot satisfy the preponderance of the evidence standard; there must be some independent corroboration to allow admission. United States v. Portela, 167 F.3d 687, 703 (1st Cir.1999). Evidence other than the out-of-court statements themselves established by a preponderance of the evidence that all of the declarants at issueSuki, Cesar, and Casiano-Roquewere members of the conspiracy. Multiple witnesses identified Suki and Cesar as co-owners of the drug point and testified to their activity at the drug point. As for Casiano-Roque, Martínez de León testified that Casiano-Roque had paid him $125.00 per week as a runner, and Officer Veguilla testified to having arrested Casiano-Roque with Rodríguez-Romero during a drug sale. The evidence was also sufficient for the district court to find that all of the relevant statements were made in furtherance of the conspiracy. When Suki and Cesar told García-Román that López-Capó brought drugs to Carioca, those were statements identifying other members of the conspiracy, made in furtherance of the conspiracy. See United States v. Pelletier, 845 F.2d 1126, 1128-29 (1st Cir.1988). Casiano-Roque's statement instructing Martínez de León to collect the tallies from the sellers was a statement related to the operation of the conspiracy, made in furtherance of the conspiracy. See United States v. Rodríguez-Vélez, 597 F.3d 32, 40-41 (1st Cir. 2010). Since Martínez de León knew that the crack for the drug point was supplied from the metropolitan area, Casiano-Roque's statement that López-Capó lived in the metropolitan area was a statement related to the inventory of the drug point, made in furtherance of the conspiracy. Id. Finally, Suki's statement to Martínez de León that López-Capó cooked better crack than Cesar was a statement identifying other members of the conspiracy, again made in furtherance of the conspiracy. Pelletier, 845 F.2d at 1128-29. The district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the out-of-court statements of López-Capó's co-conspirators.