Opinion ID: 331427
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Toepfer-Peters Grand Jury Excerpts

Text: 35 The defendant claims that the permitting into evidence of excerpts from Toepfer's and Peters' grand jury testimony being hearsay was erroneous. He argues that the prosecution sought to introduce prior inconsistent statements as substantive rather than impeachment evidence. This argument is meritless. Clearly, the prior inconsistent statements were not offered to impeach the Government's own witness. Neither were they offered for the truth of the matter stated, because the statements would have proved exculpatory to the defendant if believed. We find persuasive the Government argument that the statements were offered to establish the fact that both Toepfer and Peters had lied to the grand jury, as instructed by Rajewski, to accomplish the obstruction with which the defendant was charged. As such, the evidence was clearly probative of the issue in Court II.