Opinion ID: 171021
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility of Written Statement

Text: Mr. Caraway argues that it was error for the district court to admit into evidence the written copy of Jessica's statement to postal inspectors. We understand him to be making three arguments on appeal regarding the admission of this statement: (1) that it was hearsay, (2) that it violated the Carter rule, and (3) that it was improper to admit it because Jessica did not deny having made the statement. We address each in turn. Mr. Caraway timely raised at trial a hearsay objection to the written statement. We have already explained why the content of the statement, if used substantively, would be inadmissible hearsay. If admitted for impeachment purposes, however, it is not hearsay. The district court gave a jury instruction that stated that prior inconsistent statements are admitted only to help you decide how believable the testimony in this trial was, R. Vol. 1, Doc. 59, Instr. No. 33, and told the jury that it could not use the earlier statements as proof of anything else, id. This instruction explicitly referred to Exhibit 12. Mr. Caraway has not argued that the instruction was inadequate in informing the jury that the statement was admissible only for impeachment. Thus, the prior statement was admitted only for the proper purpose of impeachment, and the jury was given a limiting instruction not to use it substantively. The court did not improperly admit hearsay. As for the Carter issue, we have already observed that Mr. Caraway made no Carter objection at trial, and our review is therefore for plain error. Even if he could establish a Carter error here, Mr. Caraway cannot demonstrate plain error for the same reason discussed above: given the relative unimportance of the statement and the strong evidence of his guilt, he cannot show the required prejudice. Mr. Caraway's last allegation of error regarding Jessica's written statement is that it was admitted [n]otwithstanding her admissions on the stand. Aplt. Br. at 17. When the government moved to introduce the written statement, she had, as defense counsel protested, already admitted every line in it. R. Vol. 5 at 432. In Soundingsides, 820 F.2d 1232, we held that the district court had erred in allowing the government to present extrinsic evidence of prior inconsistent statements by two witnesses, both of whom admitted making the statements. We explained: Where the witness does not deny making a prior inconsistent statement, there is clearly no rationale for the introduction of a prior inconsistent statement. Id. at 1240 (internal quotation marks omitted). We did not address in Soundingsides whether those particular errors would in themselves require reversal; we held only that in light of the weak, circumstantial murder case against the defendant, the admission of the prior statements together with the improper admission of evidence of the defendant's beatings of a former girlfriend was not harmless error. Id. at 1243. We hold that the improper admission of Jessica's written statement was harmless error. As previously stated, the evidence was hardly central to the trial. Moreover, the jury had already heard the entire statement, broken down line by line, and any additional emphasis on it that resulted from the admission of the written statement was minimal. [A] non-constitutional error is harmless unless it had a substantial influence on the outcome or leaves one in grave doubt as to whether it had such effect. United States v. Griffin, 389 F.3d 1100, 1104 (10th Cir.2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). We do not believe that the admission of the statement had such an influence on the outcome of the case.