Opinion ID: 1673753
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admission of Joslyn's statements as against Waterbury.

Text: Waterbury interposed numerous hearsay objections to Joslyn's statements to the police. Ultimately the first two written statements were admitted against Waterbury, but the jury was instructed not to consider the third statement and the subsequent oral statement against him. The State argues the first two statements were not hearsay as to Waterbury, because they were not offered as proof of the matters asserted therein. We agree. These statements were not offered to prove the fictitious persons described actually committed the murder. Rather, they were offered to prove Joslyn had made the statements, and made them as a part of the concealment phase of the conspiracy. See State v. Kern, 307 N.W.2d 22, 25 (Iowa 1981); State v. Baker, 293 N.W.2d 568, 574-75 (Iowa 1980). Even assuming the statements were hearsay they nevertheless were admissible, as trial court ruled, under the coconspirator's exception to the hearsay rule. See Kern, 307 N.W.2d at 27. The coconspirator's exception has been described as follows: Any act or declaration by one co-conspirator committed in furtherance of the conspiracy and during its pendency is admissible against each and every co-conspirator provided that a foundation for its reception is laid by independent proof of the conspiracy. State v. Blyth, 226 N.W.2d 250, 269 (Iowa 1975) (emphasis supplied). A conspiracy may continue into the concealment phase. State v. Kidd, 239 N.W.2d 860, 864 (Iowa 1976). Here the prosecution made a strong showing that Joslyn and Waterbury engaged in a conspiracy to kill Robert Joslyn that included agreed steps to conceal the conspiracy after its primary goal was achieved. First, there was the evidence of Joslyn's phone call to her sister Velma on the day before the killing, in which she set up the story she told the police after the murder. Second, Waterbury audaciously called the apartment after the murder. His confession included this statement: After I left the apartment I went to the E Avenue Tavern and had some rum and coke and called Shirley's apartment at about 1:00 a. m. A police officer answered the phone but then he put Shirley on the phone and I talked to her. She told me over the phone that someone had just shot Wayne [Robert] and I asked her if she wanted me to come over and she said yes, please. We later went down to the police station where they were investigating this situation but Shirley and I never let on as though I had been involved. Joslyn's challenged statements clearly were admissible proof of the concealment segment of the conspiracy.