Opinion ID: 2316958
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hearsay Argument

Text: The defendant first argues that the trial justice permitted the prosecution to elicit inadmissible hearsay evidence that went directly to the state's allegation that the compactor had been stolen. At trial, Mr. Pikiel testified that when he left work on July 11, 2003, the compactor was chained outside the store for display purposes. Over defendant's objection, Mr. Pikiel was further allowed to testify that when he arrived at work on July 12, another Home Depot employee told him that the aircraft cable [that had secured the compactor] looked like it had been cut. The defendant argues that this statement was rank hearsay, highly prejudicial, and should not have been admitted. The defendant's hearsay argument fails because the out-of-court statement to which Mr. Pikiel testified is not hearsay under Rule 801(c) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence. Rule 801(c) defines hearsay as a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.  (Emphasis added.) On several occasions, we have noted that [i]t is axiomatic that an out-of-court statement is not hearsay unless it is offered for the truth of the matter asserted. State v. Gomes, 764 A.2d 125, 131 (R.I.2001) (quoting State v. Johnson, 667 A.2d 523, 530 (R.I.1995)). Out-of-court statements not offered for the truth of the matter asserted may be admissible for the limited purpose for which counsel offers them, barring relevancy or prejudicial concerns under Rules 402 and 403 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence, respectively. See State v. John, 881 A.2d 920, 927-28 (R.I.2005) (discussing the ramifications of Rule 403 on the admissibility of an out-of-court statement); State v. Santos, 122 R.I. 799, 820-21, 413 A.2d 58, 70 (1980) (discussing the role of Rule 402 in a similar milieu). For such statements, therefore, the invocation of an otherwise applicable exception to the general prohibition of hearsay testimony is unnecessary. State v. Crow, 871 A.2d 930, 936 (R.I.2005); In re Jean Marie W., 559 A.2d 625, 629 (R.I.1989). In State v. Tatro, 659 A.2d 106, 110 (R.I.1995), we held that an out-of-court statement made by the defendant that her registration was in the glove compartment was not hearsay. Significantly, the state in Tatro did not offer the statement to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Id. Rather, the statement served to show what prompted the officer who stopped the defendant to open the glove compartment which contained information important to the disposition of the case. Id. ; accord Crow, 871 A.2d at 936-37 (holding that an out-of-court statement was not hearsay because it was offered to demonstrate what prompted the officer to become involved in the investigation); see also State v. Grayhurst, 852 A.2d 491, 504-05 (R.I.2004) (holding that an out-of-court statement was not hearsay because it was not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted); State v. Oliveira, 774 A.2d 893, 916-18 (R.I.2001) (same); State v. Feole, 748 A.2d 239, 243 (R.I.2000) (same); In re Jean Marie W., 559 A.2d at 629 (same); Santos, 413 A.2d at 70 (same). [5] In the case before us, the record reveals that, in offering the statement of the Home Depot employee, the state did not intend to prove that someone had actually cut the aircraft cable that secured the compactor Officer Greene discovered in the bed of defendant's truck. Quite to the contrary, the state solicited Mr. Pikiel's testimony surrounding the statement for the limited purpose of showing what prompted Mr. Pikiel to conduct an equipment inventory on July 12, 2003. That inventory resulted in the production of a serial number that matched the compactor found on defendant's truck bed. The state relied upon the matching serial numbers, not the aircraft cable, throughout trial to prove that the compactor was a stolen good under G.L.1956 § 11-41-2. [6] Accordingly, we hold that the out-of-court statement to which Mr. Pikiel testified was not hearsay; therefore, the trial justice did not abuse his discretion by allowing the testimony to stand.