Opinion ID: 461235
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Inaudible Videotapes

Text: 63 Defendants' final attack on their conviction is aimed at the use of an audiovisual tape that they contend was erroneously admitted into evidence. This tape was secretly recorded in the hotel room in New Orleans, Louisiana at the October 26, 1983, meeting of the defendants with the undercover DEA agents. Although the probative value of this tape is beyond question, portions of it were unintelligible. The district court listened to portions of the tape to go to the jury. In this circuit, [t]ape recordings which are only partially intelligible are admissible unless these portions are so substantial as to render the recording as a whole untrustworthy. United States v. Ruppel, 666 F.2d 261, 272 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1107, 102 S.Ct. 3487, 73 L.Ed.2d 1369 (1982). We review the district court's decision to admit the recording under an abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Clements, 484 F.2d 928, 930 (5th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 991, 94 S.Ct. 1591, 39 L.Ed.2d 888 (1974). We have viewed the tape and find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the jury to view the tape. 24