Opinion ID: 471405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hearsay (White)

Text: 40 Corporal Pricher, a Tampa police officer, spoke with Valerie Endsley just after she was placed in the ambulance after having been removed from Martin's residence. Pricher related the statements he had heard from Endsley to Sergeant Frederick immediately after hearing them. Corporal Pricher died prior to trial, and the district court permitted Frederick to testify about the statements given to Pricher by Endsley over objection from King's attorney on hearsay grounds, finding sufficient trustworthiness to allow the testimony. 41 Frederick testified that Endsley told Pricher pretty well what James Thomas had told the police and that Willie Thomas, King, White and Taylor (a/k/a Phillip Roberts) were responsible for the beating. The government explained to the court that it offered the testimony to explain why James Thomas was not arrested along with the others found at the scene. 42 White argues on appeal that the district court committed reversible error in admitting this testimony. He appears to assume that it was admitted under the catch-all exception set forth in Fed.R.Evid. 803(24), and contends that the evidence did not meet all the criteria for admissibility under Rule 803(24). He maintains, in particular, that it was not necessary because Endsley took the stand and could have been questioned about her conversation with Pricher. Claiming that the information about White's participation in the beating was highly prejudicial, White argues that the court's error requires reversal of his conviction. 43 We agree with the government that the testimony was not offered for the truth of the matter asserted but to explain the police officers' decision not to arrest James Thomas. It therefore was not hearsay, as defined in Fed.R.Evid. 801(c). 44 If it was hearsay, the district court erred in admitting the testimony under Rule 803(24) without considering the necessity of doing so. See Elizarraras v. Bank of El Paso, 631 F.2d 366, 374 n. 24 (5th Cir.1980), (Rule 803(24) exception not applicable where declarant available to testify). By its language, Rule 803(24) applies only to hearsay that is more probative on the point for which it is offered than other evidence that the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts. As Endsley's testimony on the subject would have been more probative than the second-hand summary offered by Frederick, admission of Frederick's testimony was unnecessary and did not fall under the Rule 803(24) exception. 45 However, even if erroneous, the admission was not prejudicial and does not require reversal. The substance of the information related to Frederick by Pricher merely corroborated, in general outline, the testimony of other witnesses. James Thomas' testimony was corroborated in significant respects by Endsley's testimony and by White's own statement. White's participation in the beating was similarly brought to the jury's attention through the testimony of James Thomas and Endsley as well as through White's statement. Any error committed in admitting the testimony does not justify reversal of White's conviction.