Opinion ID: 1998693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Hearsay Testimony

Text: Appellant contends that at the pre-trial suppression hearing, the court admitted certain hearsay statements during the direct testimony of Officer Hammett as he related the circumstances surrounding appellant's arrest. The officer recounted what Ms. Simmons said when she approached him as he waited (off-duty) in line inside a liquor store, where he had gone to buy a lottery ticket. He then described his own actions in going to look for the suspect and those of Officer Myhand in the moments leading up to the arrest. Asserting that hearsay includes both words and actions of another, appellant argues that this testimony by Officer Hammett should have been excluded as hearsay. We disagree. It is fundamental that an out-of-court statement is not hearsay if it is offered for a purpose other than to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Perritt v. United States, 640 A.2d 702, 704 (D.C. 1994). The testimony about what Ms. Simmons told the officer was not offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted in those statements; rather, it was presented to demonstrate to the court why the police had reasonable suspicion to stop appellant and frisk him. Moreover, the statements regarding Officer Myhand's actions were merely descriptive of the investigation and thus were not subject to a hearsay challenge. As we said in Perritt, [e]vidence outlining the background of an investigation is admissible as non-hearsay. Id. at 705 (citations omitted). Appellant concedes that he never objected to this testimony, but even if he had, such evidence is generally admissible at pre-trial suppression hearings anyway. See Mitchell v. United States, 368 A.2d 514, 518 (D.C. 1977) (because the rules of evidence normally applicable in criminal trials do not apply with full force in suppression hearings before a judge, `reliable' hearsay generally would be admissible). No error, plain or otherwise, arose from the admission of the officer's testimony.