Opinion ID: 784816
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Admission and use of Forest's post-arrest statement

Text: 64 After his arrest, Forest provided a written statement to the DEA. Garner moved the district court, pursuant to Rule 804(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, to allow him to either introduce Forest's statement into evidence or to use the statement to cross-examine a DEA agent who testified at trial. We apply the abuse of discretion standard to a district court's evidentiary rulings. Trepel v. Roadway Express, Inc., 194 F.3d 708, 716 (6th Cir.1999). 65 Rule 804(b)(3) is an exception to the hearsay rule, allowing the admission of statements that are contrary to the declarant's interests at the time they are made. In the context of confessions, Rule 804(b)(3) allows a defendant to introduce statements that exculpate the defendant by inculpating the person who made the statement. United States v. McCleskey, 228 F.3d 640, 644 (6th Cir.2000). If some parts of a statement are self-inculpatory and other parts are not, a district court may admit only the self-inculpatory portions. United States v. Price, 134 F.3d 340, 346-47 (6th Cir.1998) (holding that the district court should have redacted the non-self-inculpatory portions of a statement). Rule 804(b)(3) also states that confessions of a third party offered to exculpate the defendant are not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. 66 In the present case, the district court refused to admit Forest's statement because the Forest statement really contains nothing specific which would serve to exculpate Garner. Garner disagrees. He first argues that the statement demonstrates that he was not capable of delivering a kilogram of cocaine to codefendant Jeffrey Davis. But the statement recites that the couriers delivered three kilograms of cocaine from California on May 31, 2001. Garner, then, was clearly capable of delivering more than one kilogram of cocaine by collaborating with Forest. So this portion of Forest's statement is not exculpatory of Garner and therefore not admissible under Rule 804(b)(3). 67 Garner also contends that the statement demonstrates that he was unaware of the purpose of the trip to Cleveland, where Forest and Garner picked up the female drug couriers from California, and that there was no agreement between Forest and Garner to distribute the drugs delivered by the California women. In his statement, Forest said: A few days prior to 5/31/01 I told [Garner] that something was going to happen. On 5/31/01 I told [Garner] I had to go to Cleveland and he asked me if I was going by myself or if I needed someone to go with me. I told him I didn't care. He told me he would ride. We then went to his car and left for Cleveland to pick the girls up. Forest also states that he was the one who purchased the digital scale, and that he alone weighed and repackaged the cocaine. In sum, these portions of Forest's statement can be viewed as exculpating Garner by implying that Forest alone (1) knew the purpose of the trip to Cleveland, (2) was responsible for purchasing the scale, and (3) weighed and repackaged the cocaine without Garner's knowledge. Because these assertions tend to prove that Garner was not involved in the conspiracy to distribute cocaine, the threshold requirement of Rule 804(b)(3) was satisfied. 68 This brings us to the question of whether corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). Although Garner contends that the statement was corroborated by the interlocking post arrest statements and the trial testimony of the California women, he provides no citations to the record in support of this argument. The women's statements and testimony, moreover, do not corroborate Forest's statement because the women were not present (1) for any discussions between Forest and Garner regarding the trip to Cleveland, (2) when Forest and Garner purchased the scale at the office supply store, or (3) when Forest weighed and repackaged the cocaine. Forest's statement therefore lacks any corroborating circumstances clearly indicating the trustworthiness of the statement, especially in light of the evidence recited in Part II.F. below regarding Garner's involvement in the conspiracy. We thus cannot say that the district court abused its discretion by refusing to allow Garner to either introduce the statement into evidence or to use it to cross-examine a DEA agent. 69