Opinion ID: 3000920
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Recordings

Text: Emerson and Ingram challenge the admission of the audio tape of the December 2, 2004 conversation between Ingram, Emerson, and Douglas and the recording of the conversation between Ingram and the other co-conspirators that occurred in the U.S. Marshal transport van. At trial, the district court overruled their foundation objections—the government’s failure to authenticate the tapes before offering them into evidence—to the admission of the tapes. We review the district court’s evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Luster, 480 F.3d 551, 556 (7th Cir. 2007). Because we give great deference to the trial judge’s evidentiary rulings, we will not reverse unless the record contains no evidence on which the trial judge rationally could have based its 12 Nos. 05-3303 and 05-3336 decision. United States v. Gajo, 290 F.3d 922, 926 (7th Cir. 2002). “Before a tape recording may be properly admitted at trial, Federal Rule of Evidence 901(a) requires the government to offer ‘evidence sufficient to support a finding that the [tape] in question is what its proponent claims.’ ” United States v. Eberhart, 467 F.3d 659, 667 (7th Cir. 2006) (quoting United States v. Westmoreland, 312 F.3d 302, 311 (7th Cir. 2002)). The government satisfies this requirement by offering clear and convincing evidence that the proffered tape is a true, accurate, and authentic recording of the conversation between the parties. Id. The government may meet this burden by offering evidence establishing the tape’s chain of custody or the testimony of an eyewitness that the recording accurately reflects the conversation that he or she witnessed or evidence establishing the chain of custody. Id. With respect to the audio tape of the December 2, 2004 conversation, the government offered the testimony of Detective Martinez. Detective Martinez explained that he gave Douglas a recording device at 8:24 p.m., prior to a meeting with Ingram and Emerson. Detective Martinez testified that he turned on the device before he gave it to Douglas, who did know how to turn the device on or off. Douglas returned the device to Detective Martinez at 10:36 p.m. Detective Martinez stated that he listened to the tape and was familiar with the voices recorded on the tape: Ingram’s, Emerson’s, and Douglas’s. Detective Martinez conceded, however, that he did not personally monitor the communications on the tape as they were recorded and that he could not verify whether the tape had been altered or whether the recorder had been turned off for periods of time while it was in Douglas’s possession. Pursuant to an order of the district court, the tape was redacted, resulting in a recording that was shorter than the time period that had elapsed between when Douglas Nos. 05-3303 and 05-3336 13 received the device and when he returned it to Detective Martinez. It is questionable whether Detective Martinez’s testimony alone was sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence the authenticity of the December 2 tape recording. In the recent decision in United States v. Eberhart, this Court found problematic the admission of an audio tape where the evidence of the tape’s authenticity consisted of the testimony of an agent that he had equipped a confidential informant with a recording device before the conversation, that he had removed the recording device after the conversation, and that the voices on the tape were the defendant’s and confidential informant’s. 467 F.3d at 668. In that case, the court was reviewing the admission of the tape under a plain error standard, concluding that the defendant had failed to show that the error in admitting the tape was obvious and that it affected his substantial rights. Id. In this case, the district court had evidence in the form of Detective Martinez’s testimony establishing the location of the recording device, that Douglas did not know how to turn the device on or off, and that the voices on the tape were those of Ingram, Emerson, and Douglas. In light of such evidence, we cannot say that the record was devoid of evidence on which the district court rationally could have based its decision. Additionally, neither Ingram nor Emerson has asserted or provided evidence that the tape was altered or that it is anything other that what it purports to be. We therefore conclude that, because of the deference owed to the district court in reviewing its evidentiary decisions, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the audio tape of the December 2, 2004 conversation. See United States v. Welch, 945 F.2d 1378, 1383 (7th Cir. 1991) (“[T]he trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of the tape will not be overturned on 14 Nos. 05-3303 and 05-3336 appeal absent extraordinary circumstances.”) (citations omitted). We likewise find that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the audiotape of the conversation of Ingram and his co-conspirators that occurred in the U.S. Marshal transport van. Deputy U.S. Marshal John Pappas testified that after he placed Ingram, Mann, D. Douglas, Coleman, and Cannon inside the transport van, he turned on a recording device. The device recorded the conversations of Ingram and the others, including Ingram’s comments about the number of guns in the gym bag and his disposal of a mask and stocking cap. Deputy Pappas testified that he did not listen to the conversations as they were recorded. Detective Ron Gray testified that Deputy Pappas gave him the tape at the ATF office later that day, he listened to the original recording and the cassette copy that was made, and there were no alterations or deletions to the tape. Based on this testimony, the district court had some evidence to authenticate the recording and therefore did not abuse its discretion in admitting the audiotape. Moreover, as discussed previously, the evidence against Ingram and Emerson was overwhelming. To the extent that any error can be ascribed to the admission of the audiotapes, the error was harmless. The recordings of the November 19 and 20 meetings were sufficient to show the existence of a conspiracy to obtain 20 kilos of cocaine and Ingram’s and Emerson’s membership in the conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt.