Opinion ID: 437553
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Foundational Requirement for Admissions

Text: 40 The statement of a party opponent is admissible if it is his own statement either in his individual or representative capacity. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A). No evidence was presented that the entries upon which the entries for March 4, 1981 and June 15, 1981 were the statements of either appellant. 41 The government's sole proof of the crime of possession of cocaine for distribution as charged in Counts 7 and 11 was based on the ledger entries. The government's handwriting expert could not identify the author of the entries for these dates. At oral argument the government conceded that the persons who made these entries were not identified at trial. Thus, the ledgers and the testimony interpreting their meaning were not admissible as the admissions of a party. 42 In its petition for a rehearing, the government claims that it argued to the trial court that the entries were admissible as adoptive admissions. We are referred to pages 1670 and 1679 and 1680 of the reporter's transcript in support of this argument. We read the record differently. The government, in response to the court's request for comment concerning the substantive counts replied as follows: 43 Your Honor, the court, I think did sum up the issue which is, can the statement which is in the nature of an admission or confession be used to prove the corpus of the crime. And the government's position is that it can. 44 We will assume, for purposes of assisting the trial court in considering this issue in the event of a retrial, that the issue of the admissibility of the ledger entries for the truth of the matter asserted as adoptive admissions is properly before this court. Under Rule 801(d)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Evidence a statement is not hearsay if [t]he statement is offered against a party and ... is a statement of which he has manifested his adoption or belief in its truth. 45 The government argues that the possession of a document standing alone, is an adoption of its contents. The government refers us to United States v. Marino, 658 F.2d 1120 (6th Cir.1981) and United States v. Canieso, 470 F.2d 1224 (2d Cir.1972) in support of this bold proposition. The government has neglected to point to us, however, that in each of these cases no objection was made at trial to the admissibility of the documents found in the possession of the defendant. Marino, at 1124; Canieso, at 1232 n. 8. More importantly, in each case the evidence was not offered for the truth of the matter asserted. Marino at 1124; Canieso at 1232. The law of this circuit concerning the admissibility of a document, found in the possession of the defendant, for the truth of the matter asserted, is set forth in Poy Coon Tom v. United States, 7 F.2d 109 (9th Cir.1925). In Poy Coon Tom, the government offered an unsigned letter from a third person found in the defendant's possession which discussed a proposed narcotics transaction. The government offered the letter to show that the plaintiff in error was a known trafficker in narcotics, and that he had not only sold narcotics to the informer in question, but to others as well. We concluded in Poy Coon Tom that the admission of the letter was prejudicial error. 46 We do not understand upon what principle the letter was admitted or was competent. It was manifestly not admissible as the unsworn declaration or statement of the unknown writer, and it was equally inadmissible for the purpose of showing an admission or an implied admission on the part of the plaintiff in error, in the absence of proof tending to show that the letter was answered or otherwise acted upon. 47 The fact that an unanswered letter or other paper is found in the custody of a party, but not acknowledged by him, is not ground for the admission of the paper as evidence against him. Were it admitted, an innocent man might, by the artifice of others, be charged with a prima facie case of guilt, which he might find it difficult to repel. Wharton's Crim.Ev. (10th Ed.) p. 1411. 48 In the matter sub judice, the district court made no finding that appellants had manifested their adoption of the statements in the ledgers or that they had demonstrated their belief in their truth nor is there any evidence in this record that would support such an inference. The ledger entries were not admissible as adoptive admissions under the law of this circuit. 49