Opinion ID: 176295
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wire Transfer

Text: The record keeper of Western Union testified on behalf of the prosecution. During this testimony, the prosecution moved for the admission of two exhibits related to a wire transfer allegedly received by Webster. The district court admitted the exhibits concurrently without objection. Exhibit 14A is Western Union's record of a $300 wire transfer sent on December 22, 2003, from Kelly Mayes in Billings, Montana. The money was received in Hayward, California, on December 23, 2003. The record also includes the recipient's name, Lamar Webster, as provided by the sender. Western Union did not require the actual recipient to show identification. Exhibit 14B is a $300 Western Union check payable to Lamar Webster issued on December 23, 2003, and cashed at the same Hayward store. The check also identifies Billings, Montana, as the check's place of origin. The check is signed by Lamar Webster as payee. Both Kelly Mayes and Richard Todd testified they sent the wire transfer to Webster. Richard Todd testified he sent the wire transfer to Webster on or about December 23, 2003, in response to Webster's request. Kelly Mayes, Todd's then-wife, testified that she wired Webster $300 on one occasion per Todd's request. On appeal, Webster contends that the recipient's name, Lamar Webster, is an out-of-court statement by the sender and is inadmissible hearsay within hearsay. He concedes, however, that the remainder of Exhibit 14A is admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, see Fed.R.Evid. 803. Because Webster did not object to the admission of the exhibit into evidence, plain error review applies. United States v. Vences, 169 F.3d 611, 613 (9th Cir.1999). The recipient's name is admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E) as an admission by a party-opponenta coconspirator statement made in the course and furtherance of the conspiracy. Testimony established that the senders of the wire transfer were Webster's co-conspirators and the wire transfer was relevant to the conspiracy. See infra Part IV. However, even if the admission of the recipient's name was error, the error was harmless in light of corroborating evidence that Webster was the recipient. In particular, Exhibit 14B, the Western Union check payable to Lamar Webster, involved the same amount, issued from the same place of origin, and was cashed at the same store on the same date. Furthermore, the payee's signature on that check was comparable to Webster's signature on his driver's licensean exhibit also admitted into evidence.