Opinion ID: 2210475
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Coconspirator hearsay exemption

Text: At trial, over defense objections, witnesses LaSheryl Yearby and Alicia Jordon testified that 1 or 2 weeks before the murder Lillian Dunn said that she needed to obtain bullets for a gun because someone was bothering her and something needed to be done right away. In addition, Alicia Jordon testified that just before the homicide and shortly after Lillian Dunn had met privately with defendant Gary Roby at the bottom of the stairway at the duplex, Lillian Dunn said to Jordon and Katie Bell, Did Gary do it yet? I can't do it. The trial court admitted Lillian Dunn's out-of-court statements under the coconspirator exemption to the hearsay rule, which says a statement is not hearsay if offered against a party and is a statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of a conspiracy. Minn.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) (1989). The trial court found that the state, as the proponent of the hearsay statements, had established a prima facie case of conspiracy between Lillian Dunn and defendant Gary Roby to rob and kill the victim McIntyre, and that this prima facie case was made with evidence independent of the hearsay statements themselves. Thus Lillian Dunn's out-of-court statements were admissible against her coconspirator, defendant Gary Roby. This was the proper test for admissibility under the coconspirator exemption at the time this case was tried. State v. Thompson, 273 Minn. 1, 16, 139 N.W.2d 490, 503, cert. denied sub nom. Thompson v. Minnesota, 385 U.S. 817, 87 S.Ct. 39, 17 L.Ed.2d 56 (1966); State v. Daniels, 380 N.W.2d 777, 784 (1986); State v. Black, 291 N.W.2d 208 (Minn.1980); Minn.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) (1989) and advisory committee comments thereto. [2] The trial court's findings are amply sustained by independent evidence. It was shown that defendant admitted giving Lillian Dunn the eventual murder weapon about a week before the shooting, that defendant met with Dunn on the duplex stairs just prior to the shooting, and that defendant had admitted he understood Dunn would rob the victim McIntyre. In further corroboration, witnesses testified to seeing Dunn help defendant hold the victim down on the floor while the victim was being robbed and shot. Defendant also admitted he helped strip the victim of her jewelry. The trial court further found that a reasonable basis existed for concluding that the statements furthered the conspiracy to rob and (or) kill McIntyre, citing the testimony of the interrogating officers and witness Fisher, and testimony from the grand jury proceedings. The trial court's rulings were supported by adequate evidence and were within its sound discretion. State v. Flores, 418 N.W.2d 150, 158 (Minn. 1988).