Opinion ID: 453009
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility of Coconspirator Hearsay.

Text: 57 The appellant Solomon Richman argues that hearsay statements, by alleged coconspirators, admitted against him at trial were inadmissible under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) because they were not statements made during the course and in furtherance of a conspiracy. Appellant Richman argues there was insubstantial independent evidence to support the admission of the hearsay statements of the appellant's alleged coconspirators. United States v. Alvarez, 696 F.2d 1307, 1310 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 907, 103 S.Ct. 1878, 76 L.Ed.2d 809 (1983); United States v. James, 590 F.2d 575, 578-81 (5th Cir.), (en banc), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 917, 99 S.Ct. 2836, 61 L.Ed.2d 283 (1979). 58 In James our predecessor court held that a trial judge must determine admissibility of coconspirator hearsay based upon substantial and independent evidence (a) that a conspiracy existed, (b) that the defendant and the declarant both were members of the conspiracy, and (c) that the hearsay statements sought to be admitted were made in furtherance of the conspiracy. James, 590 F.2d 578-81. Moreover, even if the requirements of James are not met and coconspirator hearsay is improperly admitted, that admission may nevertheless be harmless error. United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1026-27 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354 (1982). 59 The hearsay testimony of which the appellant Richman principally complains came in through testimony by Boudewijn Van Pamelen 7 about statements made to him by Wilhelmina Weinstein. This testimony was generally to the effect that Van Pamelen met (then) Wilhelmina Harich in Germany in 1974 and that she accompanied him to the United States. Van Pamelen testified that during the time Wilhelmina Harich Weinstein cohabited with him she told him that pharmaceutical products were transferred from the Church of God to third parties and eventually to the GABAR corporation for resale in the United States. 60 The government urges that there was sufficient proof of a conspiracy under James to establish the admissibility of these coconspirator hearsay statements. Alternatively, the government argues that any error in admitting the alleged hearsay was harmless because testimony so allowed was cumulative. See e.g., United States v. Means, 695 F.2d 811 (5th Cir.1983). 61 The June 9th letter from Richman to Philip Weinstein links Richman to Weinstein, hence to the conspiracy and Wilhelmina Weinstein, the declarant of Van Pamelen's testimony. However, we note that the statements of which the appellant Richman principally complains are not, on their face, in furtherance of the conspiracy. As such, the central requirement of James would appear to be unsatisfied in the instant case. 62 We need not decide that question, however, because the statements at issue are, in our view, cumulative. At least in a nonconstitutional sense, therefore, see e.g., Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764-65, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1247-48, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946), any error from their admission must be deemed harmless. Means, 695 F.2d at 818; Phillips, 664 F.2d at 1027, n. 84. Additionally, although appellant Richman does not expressly raise the point, we note that it is still an open question in this circuit whether erroneous admission of coconspirator hearsay may constitute a violation of the constitutional right to confrontation of witnesses. 8 We need not now decide that issue because the evidence presented in the admissible June 9, 1977 letter from Richman to Philip Weinstein was overwhelmingly probative of guilt. 9 It is our view that the cumulative admission of potentially erroneous hearsay statements linking Solomon Richman to the conspiracy at issue were, beyond a reasonable doubt, not determinative of the outcome of this trial as to the appellant Richman. Accordingly, any constitutional error in the admission of these statements was harmless in a constitutional sense as well. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967).