Opinion ID: 750120
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Post-Arrest Conversations

Text: 24 Appellants object to the district court's decision to admit into evidence five telephone conversations recorded while the appellants were incarcerated. As stated earlier, all of the appellants except Dwight Anderson were arrested on January 23, 1995, and the Government recorded their telephone conversations from prison during the next two days. The district court admitted five of these recorded conversations against all appellants pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E), which exempts from the definition of hearsay a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Appellants contend that the challenged conversations did not meet the requirements of Rule 801(d)(2)(E) and, therefore, should have been excluded. 25 Appellants labor mightily to show how these conversations were unrelated to the conspiracy's criminal goals. The appellants were incarcerated, they say, and there was no longer a conspiracy of which they could have been acting in furtherance. But see, e.g., United States v. Zarnes, 33 F.3d 1454, 1468 (7th Cir.1994) (stating that the defendant's incarceration did not establish her withdrawal from a conspiracy), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1126, 115 S.Ct. 2286, 132 L.Ed.2d 288 (1995); United States v. Patel, 879 F.2d 292, 294 (7th Cir.1989) (stating that the defendant's cooperation with law enforcement authorities did not constitute withdrawal from a conspiracy). Two of the recorded conversations occurred between Lawrence McCarroll and his girlfriend, Tamara Cumbo, a co-defendant in this case who did not join this appeal. The third conversation, between Jeffrey Brock and an unknown person, concerned raising money for bond by selling assets of the conspiracy. A fourth conversation involved a number of parties--Lawrence McCarroll, Tamara Cumbo, Jamie Key, Angelo Evans, Theresa Howard, and an attorney--and discussed which of the conspiracy's assets had been seized by the Government and how the remaining assets could be sold to fund the appellants' defense. Finally, the fifth conversation was between Derrick Jarrett and an unknown person named Darryl in which they discussed the assets seized by the Government and the appellants' arrests. According to the appellants, these five conversations concerned mere idle conversation, narrative declarations, and discussions of past events. Appellants' Consolidated Br. at 20, 21, 22. 26 Even if we were inclined to agree with Appellants' innocent interpretation of these conversations (which we are not), the victory for the appellants would be Pyrrhic. Their vigorous protestations on the trivial nature of the conversations only serves to convince us that admitting the statements was among the most harmless of trial errors. An evidentiary error does not justify reversing a jury's verdict unless a reviewing court determines that the error had a substantial and injurious effect or influence on the jury's verdict. United States v. Hanson, 994 F.2d 403, 407 (7th Cir.1993) (quotation omitted); see also United States v. Westbrook, 125 F.3d 996, 1003 (7th Cir.1997); United States v. Sargent, 98 F.3d 325, 330 (7th Cir.1996); United States v. Santos, 20 F.3d 280, 286 (7th Cir.1994). Appellants argue that the conversations were merely irrelevant chatter but then do not carry their burden of demonstrating that the conversations impacted the jury's decisions in any way. The Government presented an avalanche of incriminating evidence against the appellants, and we cannot realistically conclude that these five disputed conversations were the lynchpin in the month-long prosecutions. Rather, the conversations are just what the appellants say they are: harmless. 27