Opinion ID: 450378
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Co-conspirator Hearsay

Text: 14 Piedrahita next challenges the admission against him of Albeiro's statement (made shortly before he left the Burger King restaurant) that the delivery boy had arrived. He claims that the statement should have been excluded pursuant to our decision in United States v. Geaney, 417 F.2d 1116, 1120 (2d Cir.1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1028, 90 S.Ct. 1276, 25 L.Ed.2d 539 (1970). We conclude that the trial court properly admitted this statement, and so we reject this contention. 15 Under Geaney, statements made by a co-conspirator in furtherance of a conspiracy are admissible against a defendant when the prosecution proves the defendant's membership in the conspiracy by a fair preponderance of independent evidence. Geaney, 417 F.2d at 1120. The standard for independent proof of participation is lower than the standard of evidence sufficient to submit a charge of conspiracy to the jury. United States v. Alvarez-Porras, 643 F.2d 54, 57 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 839, 102 S.Ct. 146, 70 L.Ed.2d 121 (1981). Once the prosecution has shown that a conspiracy exists, the evidence needed to link another defendant with it need not be overwhelming. United States v. Provenzano, 615 F.2d 37, 45 (2d Cir.), (citation omitted), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 953, 100 S.Ct. 2921, 64 L.Ed.2d 810 (1980). The independent evidence need show only a likelihood of an illicit association between the declarant and the defendant. United States v. Cicale, 691 F.2d 95, 103 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1082, 103 S.Ct. 1771, 76 L.Ed.2d 344 (1983) (citations omitted). 16 Herein, the evidence, independent of any hearsay, easily established the likelihood of such an illicit relationship between Piedrahita and the other members of the conspiracy. In addition to the evidence that provided probable cause for Piedrahita's arrest, the following independent evidence linked him to the conspiracy: first, police seized from Piedrahita a telephone beeper, a business card containing the access number for Albeiro's beeper, and a telephone book containing Albeiro's phone number; second, police seized from Albeiro a business card containing the access number for Piedrahita's beeper; and third, the government presented testimony of a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) expert that narcotics dealers often use beepers to contact members of their organization. Considering this testimony along with that concerning Albeiro's calls from push button telephones--the type needed to activate Piedrahita's beeper--and the placement of these calls shortly before Piedrahita's arrival at # 32-39 Sixty-eighth Street, the district court reasonably concluded that a fair preponderance of independent evidence showed Piedrahita's participation in the charged conspiracy.