Opinion ID: 435300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: admission of prior written statement

Text: 22 Appellant Canas, who was convicted on Count II, objects to the admission into evidence of a prior written statement of government witness Frank Senior. Senior was charged in Count II with conspiracy to import marijuana. He and his lawyers prepared the statement after his arrest in New York, presumably in the hopes of striking a better plea bargain with the government and obtaining a less severe sentence from the trial judge. Subsequently, Senior pled guilty. Senior's statement details his participation in the drug smuggling business; it includes an account of the Miss Mary and Lady Lynn loads, which were the overt acts charged in Count II. Senior testified about these same matters at trial and was cross-examined by the attorneys for Blackston, Zeigler, and Canas. 23 Canas argues that the government had no grounds to offer the statement into evidence. The district court found, however, and we agree, that the statement was properly admissible as a prior consistent statement under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(1)(B), offered to rebut implied charges of recent fabrication. Senior testified on direct examination that the destination of the Miss Mary and Lady Lynn loads was the United States. On cross-examination, Canas' attorney asked Senior to examine his statement, which he had testified on direct was a full disclosure, 17 R. 96, to see if it said anything about the destination of the two loads. 17 R. 173. Senior conceded that it did not. In fact, however, the statement, on pages 14 and 15, did demonstrate that the destination was the United States. The district court therefore allowed admission of the statement to show that Senior's direct testimony was not a fabrication. 547 F.Supp. at 1214. 24 Canas further argues that admission of the entire 31-page statement was error because it was extremely prejudicial to him. The district court found that although the statement was lengthy, its complete submission did not prejudice Canas because his counsel had cross-examined Senior on the statements in the document. Id. We do not think that admission of the complete statement constituted an abuse of the trial court's broad discretion regarding the admission of prior consistent statements. United States v. Goodson, 502 F.2d 1303, 1307 (5th Cir.1974). Although a trial court has discretion to exclude those parts of prior consistent statements that do not relate specifically to matters on which the defendant has been impeached, United States v. Mock, 640 F.2d 629, 632 (5th Cir.1981) (Unit B), it is not required to do so. Cf. United States v. Lombardi, 550 F.2d 827, 828 (2d Cir.1977) (when defense counsel challenges witness' credibility on basis of facts absent from prior statement, prior statement still admissible to prove consistency with other portions of testimony), cited with approval in United States v. Hamilton, 689 F.2d 1262, 1273 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 911, 103 S.Ct. 218, 74 L.Ed.2d 174 (1982). Moreover, we find no merit in this assertion of error because, although Canas objected generally to admission of the statement, he did not request the excision of portions of the statement prejudicial to him. 25 Finally, Canas argues that allowing Senior's statement into evidence impermissibly placed a neat condensation of the government's case before the jury and in effect allowed the government's witness to accompany the jury into the jury room. Canas cites three cases that reversed narcotics convictions because the jury received drug evidence envelopes, on the fronts of which were printed forms filled out by narcotics agents that present[ed] in officially impressive manner capsule summaries of the government's case. Sanchez v. United States, 293 F.2d 260, 268 (8th Cir.1961); United States v. Adams, 385 F.2d 548 (2d Cir.1967); United States v. Ware, 247 F.2d 698 (7th Cir.1957). The error in those cases, however, was that the statements on the envelopes had either not been introduced into evidence, Adams, 385 F.2d at 550, or were inadmissible hearsay, Sanchez, 293 F.2d at 269; Ware, 247 F.2d at 700, and thus were not properly before the jury at all. The cases discussed the prejudicial effect of placing written condensations of the government's case before a jury in the course of determining that the error in giving the jury the statements was not harmless. Thus, these cases have no applicability to this case in which Senior's statement was not hearsay and was properly before the jury.