Opinion ID: 369698
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Carrier's Testimony

Text: 20 The testimony of Deborah Carrier of which the Appellants complain consisted of statements made by Herbert Goodman to her during several conversations with respect to the methaqualone operation and the Appellants respective involvements in it. 3 21 In support of their contention that the admission of Ms. Carrier's testimony violated their right to confront witnesses, the Appellants rely primarily on Bruton v. United States, supra. In that case, Bruton and Evans were tried together for armed postal robbery. Evans' oral confession to a postal inspector that he and Bruton had committed the robbery was admitted into evidence. The Supreme Court held that since Evans did not testify the admission of his confession violated Bruton's right to confront witnesses. That case is distinguished from the one before us because Bruton v. United States, supra, did not involve an exception to the hearsay rule. The court in Bruton recognized this point by saying: 22 There is not before us, therefore, any recognized exception to the hearsay rule insofar as petitioner (Bruton) is concerned and we intimate no view whatever that such exceptions necessarily raise questions under the Confrontation Clause. 391 U.S. at 128, n. 3, 88 S.Ct. at 1624 n. 3. 23 In the instant case, the Government contends that Herbert Goodman's statements to Ms. Carrier are admissible under the conspiracy evidentiary rule. This point will be discussed below. We point out also that here the statements were made in the course of, and in furtherance of, the conspiracy while the statements in Bruton v. United States, supra, was a confession made to a law enforcement officer made after the conspiracy was ended and clearly not in furtherance of it. 24 In the more recent Supreme Court case of Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970), the Court was called on to decide if testimony admitted under a Georgia statute allowing admission of a conspirator's statement made during the course of the conspiracy against other conspirators violated the defendant's constitutional right of confrontation. The Georgia rule of evidence at issue there was broader than the conspiracy evidentiary rule used in federal courts. 4 25 The court held that the defendant's constitutional right to confront witnesses was not violated by the admission of the coconspirator's statement. The court noted: 26 From the viewpoint of the Confrontation Clause, a witness under oath, subject to cross-examination, and whose demeanor can be observed by the trier of fact, is a reliable informant not only as to what he has seen but also as to what he has heard. 400 U.S. at 88, 91 S.Ct. at 219. 27 The Court also noted that the defendant cross-examined the witness as to whether the witness had actually heard the statement made. In other words, the defendant was able to question the reliability of the testimony even though the person who made the statement did not testify. 28 We now consider whether the testimony in question was properly admitted under a recognized rule of evidence. 29 The conspiracy evidentiary rule, which is now included in Rule 801 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, was originally established by court decisions as an exception to the hearsay rule. The Rules of Evidence, however, now no longer classify conspiratorial declarations as hearsay, on the theory that they are a species of admission by a party-opponent. Simply stated, Rule 801 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, 5 provides that statements made by a coconspirator are admissible against other coconspirators if they are made during and in the furtherance of the conspiracy. United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974); Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963); Krulewitch v. United States, 336 U.S. 440, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790 (1949). 30 The Appellants contend that the statements made by Herbert Goodman to Ms. Carrier are not admissible under this rule of evidence. This contention is unfounded. The record shows that the statements were made during the course of the conspiracy., i. e., between the dates of December, 1975, and August, 1977. The obvious purpose of explaining the methaqualone operation to Ms. Carrier was to induce her to join it, which she later did, and to keep her abreast of its current status. The record shows that Ms. Carrier moved into an apartment with Herbert Goodman as his girlfriend and thereafter began assisting in the mathaqualone undertaking after he explained it to her. Clearly his explanation to Ms. Carrier was an act in furtherance of the conspiracy. See United States v. Dorn, 561 F.2d 1252 (7 Cir. 1977); United States v. Halpin, 374 F.2d 493 (7 Cir. 1967). 6 31 We hold, therefore, that the testimony in question of Ms. Carrier's was properly admitted into evidence under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, United States v. Celaya-Garcia, 583 F.2d 210 (5 Cir. 1978); United States v. Archbold-Newball, 554 F.2d 665 (5 Cir. 1977), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1000, 98 S.Ct. 644, 54 L.Ed.2d 496 (1977), and did not violate the Appellant's constitutional right to confront witnesses. Dutton v. Evans, Supra. (No issue is raised concerning the correctness of the procedure followed in determining the admissibility of the declarations. See United States v. James, 590 F.2d 575 (5 Cir. 1979)).