Opinion ID: 3052803
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Strebendt As An Unavailable Witness

Text: The district court admitted Strebendt’s deposition testimony on the ground that he resided in Oregon and thus was unavailable for trial. Under Rule 32(a)(4)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (formerly Rule 32(a)(3)(B)), a party may use the deposition of a witness at a hearing or trial if the court finds “that the witness is more than 100 miles from the place of hearing or trial.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(a)(4)(B). [11] Angelina asserted at trial, and argues again here, that Strebendt in fact resided in Los Angeles and thus was not subject to Rule 32(a)(4)(B). Angelina’s argument at trial relied upon a July 2006 posting on a martial arts website. The posting provided background on Strebendt and indicated that his “Home City” was “Los Angeles, CA.” The district court characterized the website posting as an “unauthenticated and ambiguous statement,” and concluded that it was insufficient to demonstrate that Strebendt resided in California given the evidence to the contrary. The court noted that Strebendt testified at his deposition that he lives in Oregon; that Keith had 11890 RICHARDS v. RICHARDS filed a witness list identifying Strebendt’s residence as Eugene, Oregon; and that Keith’s counsel had telephoned the Oregon telephone number provided by Strebendt and spoken with him at that number. Based upon this record, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Strebendt’s deposition testimony under Rule 32(a)(4)(B). Angelina argues that the district court also abused its discretion in admitting Strebendt’s testimony under Rule 804(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. However, because Strebendt’s testimony properly was admitted under Rule 32(a)(4)(B), it need not also meet the requirements for admissibility set forth in Rule 804(b)(1). Under Rule 802, hearsay is admissible where allowed by the Federal Rules of Evidence, or “by other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court pursuant to statutory authority or by Act of Congress.” Fed. R. Evid. 802. Rule 32(a)(4)(B) is one of these “other rules.” See Fed. R. Evid. 802 advisory committee’s note (identifying Rule 32 as one of the “other rules”); Fed. R. Civ. P. 32 advisory committee’s note (explaining that new Rule 32(a) was intended to “eliminate[ ] the possibility of certain technical hearsay objections which are based, not on the contents of deponent’s testimony, but on his absence from court”). Our sister circuits have recognized that Rule 32(a) is an independent exception to the hearsay rule. See Ueland v. United States, 291 F.3d 993, 996 (7th Cir. 2002) (“Rule 32(a), as a freestanding exception to the hearsay rule, is one of the ‘other rules’ to which Fed. R. Evid. 802 refers. Evidence authorized by Rule 32(a) cannot be excluded as hearsay, unless it would be inadmissible even if delivered in court.”); Angelo v. Armstrong World Indus., Inc., 11 F.3d 957, 962-63 (10th Cir. 1993) (“Deposition testimony is normally inadmissible hearsay, but Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(a) creates an exception to the hearsay rules.”); S. Indiana Broadcasting, Ltd. v. FCC, 935 F.2d 1340, 1341—42 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (recognizing that Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(a) creates an exception to the hearsay rule); United States v. Vespe, 868 F.2d 1328, 1339 (3d Cir. 1989) (Rule 32(a)(3)(B) “constitutes an independent exception to the hearRICHARDS v. RICHARDS 11891 say rule”); Carey v. Bahama Cruise Lines, 864 F.2d 201, 204 & n.2 (1st Cir. 1988) (explaining that Rule 32(a)(3)(B) “is more permissive than Federal Rule of Evidence 804(a)(5)”). Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Strebendt’s deposition testimony under Rule 32(a)(4)(B), Rule 804 is irrelevant to our analysis. D. Strebendt’s Testimony Regarding Torre’s Statements Angelina also raised a hearsay objection to the admission of Strebendt’s testimony regarding Torre’s statements. The district court made a factual finding that Angelina and Torre were engaged in a conspiracy to murder Bryan, and that as a result Torre’s statements as reported by Strebendt were admissible as non-hearsay statements of a co-conspirator under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. That rule provides in relevant part that a statement is not hearsay if it is “a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy.” Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). The proponent of the statement must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of, and participation in, the conspiracy. United States v. Peralta, 941 F.2d 1003, 1005 (9th Cir. 1991) (citing Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 175 (1987)). [12] Angelina argues that there was insufficient evidence in the record to support a finding that she and Torre were engaged in a conspiracy to murder Bryan, and that the district court failed to consider evidence in her favor as to this point. This argument is identical to that addressed above with respect to the district court’s decision to draw an adverse inference. It is apparent from the FFCL that the district court considered the record as a whole and made a factual determination that Angelina did conspire with Torre to kill Bryan. As discussed previously, the district court identified more than a dozen specific facts upon which it relied in reaching this conclusion. The conclusion is not clearly erroneous. It is apparent that, assuming a conspiracy between Angelina and Torre, the 11892 RICHARDS v. RICHARDS subject statements were made in the course of and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the subject statements under Rule 801(d)(2)(E).