Opinion ID: 795375
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exclusion of the Testimony of Jehn, Adams, and Cusato

Text: 38 Similarly, the exclusion of the testimony of Jehn, Adams, and Cusato did not deny Defendant the right to present a meaningful defense. The district court excluded three types of evidence from Jehn, Adams, and Cusato: (1) Jehn's statement that he had heard that Yahoo contained rumors about a Kellogg buyout of WF; (2) Adam's statements recounting his conversation with Jehn about buyout rumors; and (3) statements from all three men that a WF employee tipped them off on the buyout. The first two sets of statements were properly excluded under the rule against hearsay while the exclusion of the third set of statements constituted harmless error. Because neither the Fifth nor Sixth Amendment prohibit the exclusion of hearsay unless such exclusion infringes on a weighty interest of the accused, see Scheffer, 523 U.S. at 330 n. 17, 118 S.Ct. 1261, nor require this Court to reverse a conviction for harmless evidentiary error, the exclusion of the testimony of Jehn, Adams, and Cusato did not deprive Defendant of a meaningful opportunity to present a defense. 39 First, both Jehn's statement that he heard that a Yahoo message board contained a rumor about the buyout and Adams' statements recounting his conversation with Jehn were properly excluded under the rule against hearsay. Under the rule against hearsay, a witness may not testify as to statement[s] other than one made by the declarant while testifying at trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement. Fed.R.Evid. 801 and 802. Jehn's testimony about the Yahoo statement was a recounting of a statement made outside of court and was offered to prove the matter asserted in that out of court statement, the existence of a rumor on Yahoo. Thus, Jehn's statement was hearsay. Similarly, Adams' testimony regarding his conversation about rumors with Jehn was a recounting of statements made outside of court offered to prove the matter asserted in the statement, that Adams and Jehn both heard rumors of the buyout. Accordingly, Adams' testimony was hearsay. 40 Defendant attempts to argue that the Yahoo statement was not hearsay by arguing that it was not offered to prove the truth of the buyout, but simply the existence of rumors. Defendant's argument misses the point; the fact that the statement was offered to prove the existence of a rumor on Yahoo is exactly what makes it hearsay. The out of court statement repeated by Jehn asserted the existence of a rumor on Yahoo, not the existence of a buyout. Thus, the statement is hearsay even if offered to prove the existence of the Yahoo rumor. It would be double hearsay if offered to prove the existence of the buyout. Importantly, Adams, who actually saw the rumor on Yahoo, was permitted to testify that there was a rumor on Yahoo about the buyout. 41 We further note that this testimony was not offered for the purpose of demonstrating the reason that Jehn bought WF stock, nor would it have been admissible for this purpose. Although the testimony would not have been hearsay if offered to prove Jehn's motivation, Jehn's motivation was not relevant to any issue at trial. Blackwell was not charged with tipping Jehn. Blackwell simply offered Jehn's testimony to support to support his theory that the persons he allegedly tipped could have learned of the buyout from other sources. 42 Second, the exclusion of the testimony of Jehn, Adams, and Cusato that they were tipped on the buyout from a WF employee was harmless, and thus, did not deprive Defendant of the right to present a defense. Washington, 255 F.3d at 57. Dale Twomley testified that rumors of a buyout were circulating among WF employees and Adams testified that a rumor was posted on a Yahoo message board. Thus, the jury was aware that persons other than Defendant possessed information about the buyout and conceivably tipped Defendant's family and friends. The exclusion of cumulative testimony does not impair the right to present a meaningful defense. Holmes, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. at 1732. 43