Opinion ID: 799956
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Testimony of Agent Estrada

Text: On the first day of trial, Agent Estrada provided a comprehensive account of Castro's arrest, which included several of Castro's post-arrest statements. For example, as recounted by Estrada, Castro explained that he [had been] approached in Aruba by an individual called ... José, to see if he wanted to bring some narcotics into the United States, and provided authorities with a detailed description reproduced by Estrada on the standof the process by which he was fitted for and supplied with the drugs for delivery to Valdivia. The appellant now contends, as he did below, that this testimony constituted inadmissible hearsay, which the trial court erroneously admitted under the co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rules. See Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) (providing that a statement will be excluded from the rules of hearsay where it was made by the party's co-conspirator during and in furtherance of the conspiracy). The government concedes the point, acknowledging that the statements were not made in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy. Instead, the government makes a somewhat strained argument that the testimony was admissible for the non-hearsay purpose of providing context or background to show the basis for the government's actions. Put another way, the government would have us believe that it meant for the jury to take Castro's statements, as recalled by Estrada, only for the fact that he made them, and not for their truth. We need not reach the merits of the government's alternative argument, however, because we find that the admission of this material, if erroneous, was harmless error. Even if the challenged testimony was inadmissible hearsay, the source of the out-of-court statementsGiovani Castro later testified himself, and was subject to thorough cross-examination by defense counsel. He largely corroborated Estrada's account, repeating many of the same details, and the few discrepancies were adroitly incorporated by the defense to undermine the credibility of both witnesses. In short, the purported hearsay testimony is cumulative of other evidence in the record, and the error in admitting the statements under the co-conspirator exception was harmless. See United States v. Piper, 298 F.3d 47, 58 (1st Cir. 2002) (Cumulative evidence is typically regarded as harmless.).