Opinion ID: 678895
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motel Records

Text: 21 Defendant next contends that motel records introduced by the government were inadmissible hearsay. The government offered records from various motels in Texas to bolster its proof that defendant had engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise. Each motel record contains the name of the guest who paid for the room, the name and location of the motel, and the dates of the guest's stay. The name of the guest was provided by the guest himself. The government's witness testifying as the custodian of the records, Mr. Curt Greer, admitted that he did not know whether, at the time these records were made, it was the regular practice of the motel to verify the identity of its customers. 22 Defendant asserts that, because the government failed to establish that it was the regular practice of the motel to verify the identity of its guests, or that a motel clerk verified the guests' identities on these particular occasions, the records did not satisfy the requirements of Rule 803(6). Defendant relies on our decision in McIntyre, 997 F.2d at 687, where we ruled similar motel receipts inadmissible. Because there was no evidence either that the identity of the individual ... was actually checked or that there was a policy to do so, the receipts in McIntyre did not qualify as business records and were therefore inadmissible hearsay evidence. Id. at 700. 23 Even if we assume that the motel records in this case were inadmissible, our inquiry is not complete. A trial court's admission of inadmissible evidence will disturb a defendant's conviction only if the error was not harmless. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a). A nonconstitutional error, such as the erroneous admission of evidence under a well-established exception to the hearsay rule, is harmless unless it had a 'substantial influence' on the outcome or leaves one in 'grave doubt' as to whether it had such effect. United States v. Rivera, 900 F.2d 1462, 1469 (10th Cir.1990) (en banc) (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1248, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946)); see also United States v. Acosta-Ballardo, 8 F.3d 1532, 1536 (10th Cir.1993). Thus, the question presented here is whether the motel records  'substantially influenced' the jury's verdict in the context of the entire case. United States v. Short, 947 F.2d 1445, 1455 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1680, 118 L.Ed.2d 397 (1992). 24 The government's purpose in introducing the motel records was to substantiate its charge that defendant had engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise. As we discuss below, the motel records were purely cumulative with respect to the government's proof that defendant was guilty on the CCE charge. The trial record contains ample evidence outside of the motel records to sustain defendant's CCE conviction. We therefore find that the admission of the motel records did not substantially influence the jury's verdict. Any error that the trial court may have committed in allowing them into evidence was harmless. 25