Opinion ID: 2618245
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: Statements Made in Furtherance of the Conspiracy

Text: (19a) Reilly apparently also contends that certain hearsay statements admitted at trial  principally, but not exclusively, those statements made after Hardy and Reilly were in pretrial detention  were not made in furtherance of the objective of the conspiracy. (Evid. Code, § 1223, subd. (a).) Instead, he claims the statements were made only to conceal the coconspirators' involvement in the conspiracy. He thus characterizes his case as one in which the trial court improperly found an implied secondary conspiracy to conceal, which existed after the primary conspiracy ended. (20) Not every conspiracy to achieve a criminal objective is necessarily followed by a secondary conspiracy to conceal the first conspiracy. Thus, in People v. Leach, supra, 15 Cal.3d 419, we explained that, conspiracies are not to be deemed still operative merely because the conspirators act in concert to avoid `detection and punishment.' ( Id. at p. 431, quoting in part Saling, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 853; see also Krulewitch v. United States, supra, 336 U.S. at p. 443 [93 L.Ed. at p. 794].) (19b) Reilly's claim that the trial court admitted the challenged statements on the proscribed implied secondary conspiracy theory is meritless, however, because it is based on his assumption that the primary conspiracy ended with the death of the victims. As we explained, ante, at pages 143-145, the primary goal of the conspiracy was the fraudulent collection of insurance proceeds, not the death of the victims. Thus, the hearsay statements Reilly now challenges were made pursuant to the primary conspiracy that was ongoing at the time the statements were made, not an implied secondary conspiracy to conceal the first crime. Hardy contends numerous hearsay statements were erroneously admitted at trial because the statements were not made in furtherance of the objective of the criminal conspiracy. (Evid. Code, § 1223.) In support, he describes several individual statements Reilly made to Mr. and Mrs. Sportsman, Debbie Sportsman, Kim H., and Calvin Boyd. For example, both James and Sonja Sportsman testified that when Reilly was in their home, he mentioned a man named Cliff Morgan who wanted to have his wife killed in order to collect the insurance proceeds. Mrs. Sportsman also testified that Reilly intended to speak to a kick-boxer about the killing. Debbie Sportsman related numerous and damaging admissions by Reilly attesting to his involvement in the scheme, including his admission that he was at the Morgan home the night of the killings and heard Nancy Morgan crying and pleading for her life. Kim H. testified Debbie told her that Reilly had admitted his complicity to her. Boyd testified that Reilly had approached him about participating in the killing, and that after the slaying Reilly admitted that he and Hardy had committed the murders. (21) In many cases, a statement of a coconspirator made after apprehension does not in any sense further the criminal enterprise, but rather frustrates it. ( People v. Luker (1965) 63 Cal.2d 464, 476 [47 Cal. Rptr. 209 [407 P.2d 9].) Such statements are often the antithesis of furthering or advancing the criminal objective because they reveal secret actions by coconspirators which law enforcement can use to prevent the conspirators from realizing their criminal objective. We reemphasize, however, that no rigid rules exist in this area and that whether statements made are in furtherance of a conspiracy depends on an analysis of the totality of the facts and circumstances in the case. (See Saling, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 852 [whether conspiracy has ended depends on the unique circumstances of the case]; Humphries, supra, 185 Cal. App.3d at p. 1334 [same].) Accordingly, [a]lthough it has been held that statements which merely narrate past events are not to be deemed as made in furtherance of a conspiracy [citations], such a rule cannot be applied mechanically. ( Saling, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 852, fn. 8.) (19c) In this case, the conspiracy to commit insurance fraud hinged on Cliff Morgan's ability to avoid being blamed for the killings because of the rule precluding a beneficiary who murders the insured from collecting on the policy. The evidence showed Hardy and Reilly's payment for killing the victims was dependent on Cliff Morgan's ability to collect the insurance proceeds. Should Morgan's complicity in the killings be revealed before the insurance company paid the policy proceeds, the criminal objective of the entire conspiracy  insurance fraud  would be thwarted. If either Reilly or Hardy's guilt was revealed, disclosure of Cliff Morgan's involvement would surely follow because their complicity was fatally intertwined with Morgan's. Thus, statements Reilly made to Debbie Sportsman, Calvin Boyd, and Kim H. (all found to be coconspirators) in an attempt to maintain secrecy and avoid discovery of the conspiracy furthered their criminal objective, namely, enabling Cliff Morgan to collect on the insurance policies. (See Saling, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 852, fn. 8.) This case is thus distinguishable from cases like People v. Leach, supra, 15 Cal.3d 419, in which statements were made after the termination of the criminal objective of the conspiracy. In such cases, the criminal objective  killing the victim  had been achieved and the conspiracy ended. Statements made in an attempt to avoid apprehension thus could not have furthered the criminal objective, it having already been accomplished. ( Saling, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 853.) Because the conspiracy was ongoing when Reilly uttered most of the statements Hardy now challenges, and because the insurance companies had not yet paid, we conclude most of the statements Hardy challenges were made in an attempt to maintain the secrecy and thus the integrity of the criminal enterprise. So viewed, it follows that they were made in furtherance of the conspiracy within the meaning of Evidence Code section 1223, subdivision (a). (22) We agree, however, that one of the challenged statements was not made in furtherance of the conspiracy. Thus, unlike Reilly's conversations with Debbie Sportsman in which they attempted to coordinate their alibis, or his solicitation of Calvin Boyd to kill the victims, Reilly's gratuitous ramblings to James and Sonja Sportsman about Cliff Morgan's desire to find a hit man cannot be deemed in furtherance of the conspiracy. Because this evidence did not directly implicate Hardy, we need not apply the Chapman standard of review. ( Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065]; see Leach, supra, 15 Cal.3d at p. 446.) Instead, in order to determine whether admission of this statement was harmless, we must decide whether it is reasonably probable that Hardy would have achieved a different result in the absence of the error. ( People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243]; Leach, supra, 15 Cal.3d at p. 445 [applying Watson ].) We conclude the admission of Reilly's statements to the Sportsmans was harmless in light of the numerous times Hardy implicated himself in the killings to Colette Mitchell. For example, Hardy told her that he used bolt cutters to gain entry into the Morgan home, a fact not made public by the investigating officers. In addition, Hardy admitted to Colette (i) that he had been to the Morgan home the night of the killing, (ii) that he could hear Nancy Morgan snoring, (iii) that the killing had to occur before June 1, 1981, because the life insurance would expire, and (iv) that Colette should dispose of an M-1 rifle and some boots in his apartment because it could link him to the crime. Strong circumstantial evidence also linked Hardy to the crimes, such as the facts that he was with Reilly just before and after the killing, and that Reilly told Mike Mitchell that Hardy had agreed to commit the murders. In a statement clearly in furtherance of the conspiracy, Reilly told Debbie Sportsman to speak to Hardy so they could coordinate their alibis. (23) Reilly also challenges the admission of an enormous number of extrajudicial statements on the ground that they were not made in furtherance of the objective of [the] conspiracy. (Evid. Code, § 1223, subd. (a).) He cites two that he describes as illustrative. First, he challenges his own statement to one Joe Dempsey that I can get [Hardy] to do it. This statement was properly introduced against Reilly as an admission. ( Id., § 1220.) Second, he complains the court should not have admitted Hardy's comment to Colette Mitchell that Reilly was in charge of the operation. Because the coconspirators were attempting to coordinate their alibis, however, we conclude this statement can be fairly characterized as made in furtherance of the conspiracy. To the extent Reilly intends to challenge other individual statements that he fails to enumerate, we reject the argument. Even if we assume some hearsay statements were erroneously admitted against him, most of the evidence against him took the form of his own admissions, which were clearly admissible. The erroneous introduction of additional hearsay statements was thus manifestly harmless. ( Watson, supra, 46 Cal.2d at p. 836.) Defendants provide a list of 42 individual statements or acts which they claim were improperly admitted or, at least, could have been excluded pursuant to Evidence Code section 352. They claim the statements and acts all occurred after the arrests but before trial, a period they claim was after the conspiracy had terminated. We have reviewed the list and find no error. Some of the statements were uttered by either Hardy or Reilly and were thus admissions as to them. Other acts, such as Colette Mitchell's false testimony at the preliminary hearing, Morgan's filing of the insurance claims, and Hardy's attempt to dispose of the rifle allegedly stolen from Morgan, were clearly probative of guilt irrespective of the coconspirator status of the actor. Still others, such as Mike Mitchell's move to New York and Cliff Morgan's failure to pay for the victims' funeral expenses, were of marginal relevance and clearly harmless even if improperly admitted. Finally, even if we assume the trial court would have excluded some of the listed statements and acts pursuant to Evidence Code section 352, defendants failed to object on that ground and thus waived the claim for appeal.