Opinion ID: 2005567
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: analysis

Text: Hearsay is not admissible except as provided by the Nebraska Evidence Rules, by other rules adopted by the statutes of the State of Nebraska, or by the discovery rules of this court. See Neb. Evid. R. 802, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-802 (Cum. Supp. 2006). The testimony primarily at issue here, Haukaas' testimony regarding Gutierrez' and Sommer's out-of-court statements implicating them in the killings, was admitted pursuant to Neb. Evid. R. 801(4)(b), Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-801(4)(b) (Reissue 1995), which provides that a statement is not hearsay if it is offered against a party and is . . . (v) a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. The defendants claim that Haukaas' testimony was not admissible because at the time the testimony was offered, the State had not offered evidence of a conspiracy. The defendants' argument implicates two separate issues: what foundation must be laid for the admission of a coconspirator's statement and when that foundation must be laid. In State v. Bobo, 198 Neb. 551, 253 N.W.2d 857 (1977), we noted the parallel between our rule 801(4)(b)(v) and Fed. R. of Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) and stated that to be admissible, the statements of the coconspirator must have been made while the conspiracy was pending and in furtherance of its objects. If the statements took place after the conspiracy had ended, or if merely narrative of past events, they are not admissible. Bobo, supra . In other words, for an out-of-court statement to be admissible under rule 801(4)(b)(v), there must be evidence that there was a conspiracy involving the declarant and the nonoffering party and that the statement was made during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. See Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987). In Bobo, we further explained that although rule 801(4)(b)(v) is applicable regardless of whether the defendant is charged with conspiracy, [t]he rule is well established that before the trier of facts may consider testimony under the coconspirator exception to the hearsay rule, a prima facie case establishing the existence of the conspiracy must be shown by independent evidence. . . . The purpose of requiring that the conspiracy be established by independent evidence is to prevent the danger of hearsay evidence being lifted by its own bootstraps, i.e., relying on the hearsay statements to establish the conspiracy, and then using the conspiracy to permit the introduction of what would otherwise be hearsay testimony in evidence. 198 Neb. at 557, 253 N.W.2d at 861. Accord, State v. Myers, 258 Neb. 300, 603 N.W.2d 378 (1999); State v. Hansen, 252 Neb. 489, 562 N.W.2d 840 (1997). The defendants argue, based on Bobo, that foundation was lacking in the instant cases because when Haukaas took the stand, independent proof of the conspiracy had not been established. In State v. Copple, 224 Neb. 672, 401 N.W.2d 141 (1987), abrogated on other grounds, State v. Reynolds, 235 Neb. 662, 457 N.W.2d 405 (1990), we warned trial courts about the perils of admitting coconspirator evidence conditioned on later evidence of a conspiracy. We held that the evidence of conspiracy required by the rules of evidence could be established by evidence presented to the jury as substantive evidence of the crimes charged. But we cautioned that [a]dmission of evidence from a coconspirator, subject to the State's later completing proof of a prima facie case of conspiracy, presents some procedural problems which may result in unwarranted, or even unfair, prejudice to a defendant, for example, the necessity of a motion to strike evidence conditionally received, a request to withdraw the coconspirator's testimony from consideration by the jury, or an instruction that the jury shall disregard the evidence which has been presented but not linked to a conspiracy. Whatever procedure might seem most appropriate on failure of proof after a conditional admission of evidence, there is an ever-present risk that the court's later instruction may not erase a prejudicial impression on the jurywith the specter of a mistrial. Id. at 694-95, 401 N.W.2d at 157. That having been said, there is some question whether the preference we expressed in Copple rises to the bright-line requirement urged upon us by the defendants. See, Hansen, supra; State v. Conn, 12 Neb.App. 635, 685 N.W.2d 357 (2004). But we do not confront that issue here because of a more fundamental problem in the defendants' argument. The defendants' argument is based on the mistaken premise that evidence of a conspiracy was necessary before any of Haukaas' testimony was admissible. In fact, rule 801(4)(b)(v) governs only the admissibility of testimony about out-of-court statements made by a coconspiratornot the admissibility of all the other testimony offered by the same witness. Rule 801(4)(b)(v) is simply irrelevant to the direct testimony of a coconspirator. See United States v. Smith, 692 F.2d 693 (10th Cir.1982). See, also, Laughlin v. United States, 385 F.2d 287 (D.C.Cir.1967). There is no reason why a witness cannot testify to the existence of a conspiracy, and that the defendant was a participant, and then testify to out-of-court statements made by the alleged coconspirators. Here, Haukaas testified about statements made to him by Gutierrez and Sommer that were admitted as nonhearsay coconspirator statements. But before any of that testimony, Haukaas explained, based on personal knowledge, how he, Gutierrez, and Sommer were involved in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The statements made by Sommer and Gutierrez, to which Haukaas testified, were made in furtherance of that conspiracy. The State was not required to prove the existence of the conspiracy before Haukaas took the witness stand, and nothing in the Nebraska Evidence Rules barred Haukaas, as a witness, from testifying about the conspiracy and providing the foundation for admission of the coconspirator statements Haukaas attributed to Gutierrez and Sommer. Haukaas' testimony established prima facie evidence of a conspiracy before he testified to the statements of Gutierrez and Sommer. Gutierrez' argument is limited to Haukaas' testimony and is disposed of by that conclusion. Sommer also directs the same legal argument at testimony from Bowen, Lucero, and King. The record reveals no more than general hearsay objections to the testimony of Bowen and Lucero, and no hearsay objection at all to King's testimony. Unless an objection to offered evidence is sufficiently specific to enlighten the trial court and enable it to pass upon the sufficiency of such objection and to observe the alleged harmful bearing of the evidence from the standpoint of the objector, no question can be presented therefrom on appeal. State v. Hall, 270 Neb. 669, 708 N.W.2d 209 (2005). But in any event, our reasoning above with respect to Haukaas' testimony is also dispositive of Sommer's argument with respect to other witnesses. Finally, Sommer argues that the statements allegedly made by Gutierrez were not made in furtherance of the conspiracy, as required for admissibility under rule 801(4)(b)(v). Assuming that Sommer's general hearsay objections were sufficient to preserve the issue for appellate review, Sommer's argument presents no basis for reversal. The two statements at which Sommer's argument is directed are (1) Gutierrez' statements to King at King's apartment and (2) a statement that Haukaas testified Gutierrez made to him, after they were both in jail, in which Gutierrez asked Haukaas why Haukaas told on Gutierrez. Gutierrez' statement to King, a participant in the marijuana distribution operation, was part of a conversation initiated by Gutierrez while seeking refuge in King's apartment from the police. It is well established that the in furtherance language of rule 801 is to be construed broadly. See, e.g., U.S. v. Phillips, 219 F.3d 404 (5th Cir.2000); U.S. v. Garcia, 893 F.2d 188 (8th Cir.1990). It is also well established that statements made by a coconspirator in furtherance of avoiding capture or punishment are made in furtherance of the conspiracy within the meaning of rule 801. See, e.g., U.S. v. Triplett, 922 F.2d 1174 (5th Cir.1991); Garcia, supra ; United States v. Sears, 663 F.2d 896 (9th Cir.1981). Gutierrez' alleged statement to King falls into that category. As for Gutierrez' alleged statement to Haukaas in jail, it does not implicate Sommer in any way, and its admission as to Sommer was at worst harmless error. Evidentiary error is harmless when improper admission of evidence did not materially influence the jury to reach a verdict adverse to substantial rights of the defendant. State v. Myers, 258 Neb. 300, 603 N.W.2d 378 (1999). Harmless error review looks to the basis on which the jury actually rested its verdict; the inquiry is not whether in a trial that occurred without the error a guilty verdict would surely have been rendered, but, rather, whether the actual guilty verdict rendered in the questioned trial was surely unattributable to the error. State v. Iromuanya, 272 Neb. 178, 719 N.W.2d 263 (2006). A coconspirator's idle chatter or casual conversation about past events is generally not considered to be in furtherance of the conspiracy for rule 801 purposes. See, U.S. v. Shores, 33 F.3d 438 (4th Cir.1994); United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971 (5th Cir.1981). But this was a single comment, made during a long trial, that was directly inculpatory only to the declarant, Gutierrez, and not to Sommer. Compare, e.g., United States v. Schepp, 746 F.2d 406 (8th Cir.1984); United States v. Mackey, 571 F.2d 376 (7th Cir.1978). We also note that the statement was clearly admissible as to Gutierrez and Sommer did not request a limiting instruction regarding the jury's use of the testimony. Based on a thorough review of the record, we conclude that Sommer's conviction was unattributable to the error. In the absence of a request for a limiting instruction, or any prejudice to Sommer from the admission of the statement, we find no reversible error in the district court's decision to permit the testimony. For the foregoing reasons, we reject the defendants' assignments of error with respect to coconspirator statements.