Opinion ID: 331427
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Agent Kusserow

Text: 39 On September 5, 1973, during the course of an investigation of the SBA disaster loan, Special Agent Kusserow of the FBI interviewed Rajewski. The defendant told Kusserow that he had suffered severe flood damage in the basement of his apartment building. He said that the storage bins had to be repaired at a cost of approximately $500; that he had used the services of a man named Toepfer for the repairs which were made. The defendant claims that the Government used Kusserow's narration of the interview in order to prove criminal propensity of defendant Rajewski by referring to uncharged crimes. In his SBA application, Rajewski claimed casualty damages for panelling, drain tile, electrical wiring, a lawn mower, a snow blower, a washer and dryer, a jig saw, a battery charger, a liquor bar, table and chairs, lines and clothing, and carpeting. Since Count I contained no charge of false or fictitious claims regarding these items, but since the Kusserow testimony related conversations the agent had had with Rajewski about these items, it is contended that this portion of the testimony was immaterial, irrelevant, and prejudicial since it left the inference that the defendant had cheated in respects relating to the disaster loan other than as charged in the indictment. 40 Kusserow's narration of the interview, however, was not offered for the truth of the matters asserted. Rajewski's remarks about the various damaged items, if offered for their truth, would have been exculpatory to Rajewski. Nor was this an instance where the government introduced extrinsic evidence of similar acts to establish motive or intent. The agent's testimony served only the purpose of demonstrating the defendant's state of mind at the time he made exculpatory statements which the jury, on the basis of the testimony of Payne, supra, and Mika, infra, could have determined were false in respect to the common denominator of the indictment charge that there was flood damage to the basement and its contents. We cannot agree with the defendant's contention that the Government failed to tie-up the evidence, a basis on which it was admitted. It is well settled that untrue exculpatory statements may be considered as circumstantial evidence of the defendant's consciousness of guilt. See United States v. Kilpatrick, 458 F.2d 864, 867 (7th Cir. 1972). See also, United States v. Riso, 405 F.2d 134, 138 (7th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 959, 89 S.Ct. 1306, 22 L.Ed.2d 560 (1969).