Opinion ID: 39527
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the Report

Text: 22 Next, O'Keefe contends that the district court erred by refusing to admit an unredacted version of the Coast Guard's report of the accident, i.e., a version which includes headings that state the report's conclusions. O'Keefe requested admission of the report only if the headings were included and his request was denied by the district court's decision to allow the report only if the headings were omitted. O'Keefe argues that the report, in its entirety, should have been allowed into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule under Rule 803(8)(C) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. 23 Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C) provides that the following are not excluded as hearsay, even though the declarant is available as a witness: 24 Records, report, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth ... in civil actions and proceedings and against the Government in criminal cases, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness. 25 According to O'Keefe, Rule 803(8)(C) allows exclusion of these headings only if the material sought to be admitted lacks trustworthiness. He contends that the report was admissible in its entirety as an exception to the hearsay rule under Rule 803(8)(C) because the district court did not conclude that the headings were untrustworthy. O'Keefe argues that the court's basis for ruling that it would only allow into evidence a redacted version is as follows: (1) the present case was criminal, not civil; (2) the headings might confuse the jury about the burden of proof; and (3) the headings dealt with issues that the jury was charged with deciding. O'Keefe maintains that these reasons do not withstand scrutiny under Rule 803(8)(C) and, therefore, the district court's evidentiary ruling was in error. We disagree. 26 The policy underlying Rule 803(8)(C) is to exclude investigative reports that are untrustworthy. See Moss v. Ole South Real Estate, 933 F.2d 1300, 1305 (5th Cir.1991). However, as the Supreme Court has observed, Rule 803(8)(C) is not the only basis upon which a district court may rely to exclude evidence stemming from investigative reports: 27 [A] trial judge has the discretion, and indeed the obligation, to exclude an entire report or portions thereof-whether narrow factual statements or broader conclusions that she determines to be untrustworthy. Moreover, safeguards built into other portions of the Federal Rules, such as those dealing with relevance and prejudice, provide the court with additional means of scrutinizing and, where appropriate, excluding evaluative reports or portions of them. And of course it goes without saying that the admission of a report containing conclusions is subject to the ultimate safeguard-the opponent's right to present evidence tending to contradict or diminish the weight of the conclusions. 28 Beech Aircraft Corp. v. Rainey, 488 U.S. 153, 167-68, 109 S.Ct. 439, 448-49, 102 L.Ed.2d 445. (emphasis supplied). 29 Even were we to assume, arguendo, that the instant report could not be excluded as hearsay pursuant to Rule 803(8), other portions of the Federal Rules of Evidence support the district court's ruling which excluded the Cost Guard report's headings. Evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury. Fed.R.Evid. 403. A district court has discretion ... to limit or forbid the admission of particularly prejudicial evidence even though admissible under an accepted rule of evidence. Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 269, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 1243, 140 L.Ed.2d 350, quoting Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, 561, 87 S.Ct., 648, 652, 17 L.Ed.2d 606 (1967). When a district court's determination as to the admissibility of evidence is questioned on appeal, our applicable standard of review is abuse of discretion. United States v. Pace, 10 F.3d 1106, 1115 (5th Cir.1993); United States v. Sprick, 233 F.3d 845 (5th Cir.2000). Accordingly, we review for abuse of discretion the district court's refusal to admit the unredacted report which contained the headings at issue. 30 The district court in the instant case stated that it would not allow admission of the headings primarily because of the concern for confusion to the jury about what standard of care needed to be and what level of proof needed to be. 2 Chief Judge Berrigan stated her reasons as follows: 31 I am concerned about [getting confused as to] the burdens of proof. I think the jury is going to get the burden of proof instructions from me. I don't want anything else confusing the jury. It's clear that those three headings deal with what they think caused the ship to sink and whether or not it was the root cause, [or the] proximate cause ... Those are factors for the jury to find. So, I'm going to go ahead and delete those headings. I note your objection, and that's my ruling. 32 The conclusions in the excluded headings were made by Lieutenant Michael C. Long, the investigator who compiled the report and who was allegedly not available as a defense witness at the commencement of the trial. The three headings at issue state Lieutenant Long's conclusions about the Apparent Cause, Root Cause, and Contributing Factors of the sinking of the MV AMY ANN. The district court properly noted that it was for the jury, not Lieutenant Long, to determine whether O'Keefe caused Imboden's death. The district court intimated that the headings would ultimately confuse the jury in regard to their duty in determining causation. The district court also expressed concern about allowing into evidence the headings at issue because Lieutenant Long was not available for cross examination. A district court has broad discretion in assessing admissibility under Rule 403, and its determination is reviewed only for abuse of discretion. United States v. Morris, 79 F.3d 409, 412 (5th Cir.1996). On this record, even were we to assume that these conclusory headings were admissible as exceptions to the hearsay rule under Rule 803(8), we find that this evidentiary ruling was appropriate and consistent with the Federal Rules of Evidence. For this reason, we need not reach the question of whether the headings in the instant report fall within the Rule 803(8) exception to the hearsay rule. 33 The record shows that the district court carefully considered the headings contained in the unredacted version of the Coast Guard report and balanced their probative value against the likelihood that the conclusory statements therein would confuse the jury. Having reviewed the language in the headings and the district court's reasons for excluding this language, we cannot say that exclusion of the headings was an abuse of the district court's broad discretion.