Opinion ID: 393800
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Bashien Prescriptions

Text: 4 John Bruner and Carl Lynch make three assertions of error based on the admission into evidence of approximately 5,000 prescriptions and other documents obtained from the offices of Dr. Gus Bashien. First, they argue that the prescriptions were improperly authenticated. Second, they argue that they were denied their Sixth Amendment rights to confront a witness against them. Third, Lynch contends that the prescriptions were inadmissible hearsay. 5 It is the Government's position that the prescriptions were properly admitted. It argues first that the prescriptions were not hearsay and, that even if they were, they were properly admitted under the business records exception. The Government points to the testimony of George Ginsberg, a pharmacist for the State of New York, and Margaret Brophy, a Drug Enforcement Administration investigator, as sufficiently authenticating the documents and as providing the necessary information to support the business records exception. Finally, the Government argues that the documents were properly admitted, although the preparer of documents did not testify, because the reliability and trustworthiness of the documents were otherwise established.
6 Testimony of the author is but one way to authenticate documents; circumstantial evidence of authenticity can be sufficient. McCormick on Evidence § 222 (2d ed. 1972). Here, the testimony given by Ginsberg and Brophy adequately authenticated the prescriptions. Ginsberg testified that under New York law, N.Y.Pub. Health Law § 3338 (McKinney), physicians must write prescriptions on state-issued triplicate forms, one copy of which is retained by the doctor on all prescriptions for Schedule II drugs. 4 Transcript (Tr.) at 346-64. He testified that he was responsible for maintaining the state's stock of blank prescription pads and the copies of filled prescriptions sent to the state by pharmacists. 5 Brophy identified the prescriptions offered in evidence as those obtained by her from Dr. Bashien pursuant to subpoena. Finally, Ginsberg testified that the seized prescriptions matched the numbers of the prescriptions which had been issued to Dr. Bashien, with but two exceptions. 6 7 (P)roof of private custody, together with other circumstances, is frequently strong circumstantial evidence of authenticity. McCormick on Evidence § 224 (2d ed. 1972). Accord, United States v. King, 472 F.2d 1, 7-8 (9th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1033, 94 S.Ct. 463, 38 L.Ed.2d 325 (1973). The other circumstances here include the method by which the State of New York issues and accounts for prescription blanks, as described by Ginsberg. This, when added to Brophy's testimony that the prescriptions were obtained from Dr. Bashien by subpoena, is substantial proof of authenticity, and is evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims. Fed.R.Evid. 901(a).
8 These documents are hearsay only if they contain statements ... offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted and they are not statement(s) by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Fed.R.Evid. 801(c), (d)(2)(E). 9 The prescriptions are divided into three sections. One section contains the name and address of the physician and the patient and the date the prescription is written. The second section is comprised of the name of the drug prescribed, the directions for its use, and the maximum daily dose. The third section is reserved for use by the pharmacist to enter information such as his and the drug's identification numbers and the date the drug is dispensed. Tr. at 350-51. 10 In our view, the prescriptions were not admitted to prove the truth of the assertions they contained, and are, therefore, not hearsay. They were not offered to prove Dr. Bashien's or any of his patients' addresses. 7 Nor were they offered to prove the doctor believed that the patient needed the drug prescribed, which is an assertion probably intended by the doctor when he wrote the prescriptions. They were offered in evidence to show they were used to obtain drugs. 11 The conclusion that the prescriptions were not hearsay is strengthened by a review of the rationale of the hearsay rule. The primary justification for the exclusion of hearsay is the lack of any opportunity for the adversary to cross-examine the absent declarant whose out-of-court statement is introduced into evidence. Anderson v. United States, 417 U.S. 211, 220, 94 S.Ct. 2253, 2260, 41 L.Ed.2d 20 (1974). Appellants' attack on the prescriptions is not directed at the veracity of the statements made or assertions implicit in them. They had no interest in putting Dr. Bashien's credibility in issue. Apparently, appellants' sole objection to the prescriptions dealt with their authenticity, which does not implicate hearsay values. As discussed above, appellants' attack on the authenticity of the prescriptions is groundless. 12 Even if we construed the definition of hearsay in Federal Rule of Evidence 801(c) to include the Bashien prescriptions, they would be explicitly excluded from the scope of hearsay by 801(d)(2)(E), which provides: 13 A statement is not hearsay if (it) is offered against a party and is ... a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. 14 Dr. Bashien was indicted for conspiracy, and he pleaded guilty prior to trial. The Government produced sufficient independent evidence of his involvement in the conspiracy to permit the admission of the prescriptions under 801(d)(2) (E). See generally United States v. Gantt, 617 F.2d 831, 844-45 (D.C.Cir.1980). 15 Our determination of the hearsay issue does not require consideration of the parties' dispute over whether the prescriptions were admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. See Fed.R.Evid. 803(6).
16 Our conclusion that the prescriptions were not hearsay likewise dispenses with any Confrontation Clause problem. No purpose would be served by requiring the prosecution to produce a witness at trial to testify concerning non-hearsay statements or, if the witness was not produced, by excluding such statements from evidence altogether. The hearsay rules and the Confrontation Clause are generally designed to protect similar values. California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 1933, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970) (quoted in Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2539, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980)). The confrontation clause, like the hearsay rule, is not concerned with statements that are not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. 8