Opinion ID: 698715
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of the Drug Ledgers

Text: 12 Although initially limiting the admissibility of the ledgers found in the Abuelitos and San Bruno residences, 3 the district court ultimately admitted them for all purposes, including the truth of the matters asserted in the ledgers. The defendants argue that a proper foundation was not laid for admitting the ledger entries as admissions or co-conspirator statements under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2), or as business records under Fed.R.Evid. 803(6). 13 We review the district court's decision to admit evidence for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Warren, 25 F.3d 890, 894 (9th Cir.1994). The admission of co-conspirator statements is also subject to abuse of discretion review, United States v. Garza, 980 F.2d 546, 553 (9th Cir.1992), while we review for clear error the underlying factual determination that a conspiracy existed and that the statements were made in furtherance of that conspiracy. United States v. Arambula-Ruiz, 987 F.2d 599, 607 (9th Cir.1993). See also United States v. Torres, 908 F.2d 1417, 1425 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 948, 111 S.Ct. 366, 112 L.Ed.2d 329 (1990).
14 To find that the ledgers constituted admissions, there must be sufficient evidence to enable the jury to decide that the defendants authored or adopted the ledgers. See Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A) & (B). When evidence is admitted subject to the jury's finding that a threshold condition is satisfied, [t]he judge makes a preliminary determination whether the foundation evidence is sufficient to support a finding of fulfillment of the condition. Fed.R.Evid. 104(b) advisory committee's note; see United States v. Reilly, 33 F.3d 1396, 1404-05 (3rd Cir.1994) ([O]nce the court finds that evidence has been introduced sufficient to permit a reasonable juror to find that the matter in question is what its proponent claims, a sufficient foundation for introduction in evidence has been laid.); United States v. Monks, 774 F.2d 945, 950 (9th Cir.1985) (holding that before introducing evidence as an adoptive admission, the district court must first find that sufficient foundational facts have been introduced for the jury reasonably to conclude that the defendant did actually hear, understand and accede to the statement). 15 The defendants argue that the ledgers are not admissable as admissions because the government's handwriting expert was unable to conclusively determine whether the ledgers were written by the defendants. See United States v. Ordonez, 737 F.2d 793, 800-01 (9th Cir.1984) (ledgers written by unidentified persons are not admissible as admissions). 16 But there is no real mystery as to the participants in the drug conspiracy here or the meaning of the ledger entries themselves. The testimony of the handwriting expert that Montoya was probably the author of the Abuelitos ledger, combined with circumstantial evidence that Montoya wrote the ledger entries, provides an adequate foundation for admitting the ledger as an admission by Montoya. 4 As for the San Bruno ledger, the evidence supported the finding that it was a statement made or adopted by Gil. It was found on Gil's coffee table, the transactions listed in the ledger correspond with Gil's activities that were observed by the police, and the entries marked with I took and I brought dovetail with entries marked Tono took and Tono brought on the Abuelitos ledger. 17 Given this evidence, the district court's decision, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 104(b), to allow the jury to decide whether the defendants made or adopted the drug ledgers was not an abuse of discretion. As the district court noted when making its ruling, it's not a question of the court weighing the evidence at this time and deciding whether the showing is strong or weak.... The court merely needs to decide that there is a substantial enough showing to present the issue to the jury for them to perform that weighing function. See Monks, 774 F.2d at 950 (once district court has made necessary foundational finding, jury decides whether statement constitutes an admission).
18 For the ledgers to be admissible as co-conspirator statements under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), the following must be shown by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) that a conspiracy existed; (2) that the author of the ledgers and the party against whom they are offered were members of that conspiracy; (3) that the ledgers were made in furtherance of the conspiracy; and (4) that the ledgers were made during the conspiracy. Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 175-76, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 2778-79, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987); United States v. Peralta, 941 F.2d 1003, 1007 (9th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 940, 112 S.Ct. 1484, 117 L.Ed.2d 626 (1992); United States v. Smith, 893 F.2d 1573, 1578 (9th Cir.1990); United States v. Mouzin, 785 F.2d 682, 692-93 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 985, 107 S.Ct. 574, 93 L.Ed.2d 577 (1986). It is essential that there be evidence regarding who made the statement, because [i]n order to corroborate or refute [whether the declarant and the defendant were co-conspirators], the litigants must know the identity of the declarant. Mouzin, 785 F.2d at 692. 19 These preliminary determinations are made by the court, not the jury, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 104(a). United States v. Fleishman, 684 F.2d 1329 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1044, 103 S.Ct. 464, 74 L.Ed.2d 614 (1982). That the ledgers were made during, and in furtherance of a conspiracy to which the defendants belonged is not seriously disputed. However, it is the identity element that draws fire from the defendants who contend that without direct proof of authorship, it was error to admit the ledgers as co-conspirator statements. We disagree. The government presented evidence that Gil and Montoya were co-conspirators, and proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the ledgers were the defendants' statements. As noted above, the ledgers were located in the defendants' residences and entries corresponded to surveilled activities. See United States v. Smith, 893 F.2d 1573, 1578 (9th Cir.1990) (holding that testimony that co-conspirator kept a drug ledger as a record of drug transactions was sufficient to establish that co-conspirator authored ledger). Also, the ledgers attributed deliveries to Tono, a nickname associated with an established pseudonym for Gil. See United States v. Schmit, 881 F.2d 608, 613-14 (9th Cir.1989) (finding that defendant's son was author of a ledger that referred to Dad and contained a distinctive code word used by defendant's son). This evidence adequately identified the defendants as authors of the ledgers. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the drug ledgers as co-conspirator statements. 20 Having determined that the ledgers are admissable both as admissions and as co-conspirator statements under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2), we need not address whether they would be admissable under the business records exception to the hearsay rule.