Opinion ID: 560585
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: admission of tape transcripts

Text: 47 Defendants next contend that the district court erred by admitting transcripts of taped conversations of defendants, arguing that they were not properly authenticated. Whether to admit transcripts is within the sound discretion of the trial court. United States v. Mayes, 917 F.2d 457, 462 (10th Cir.1990); United States v. Devous, 764 F.2d 1349, 1354 (10th Cir.1985). While it is true that the preferable means of authentication is stipulation between the parties or a pretrial determination by the court, the unrebutted testimony of one of the participants in the actual conversations is sufficient authentication. Devous, 764 F.2d at 1355. In this case, Maddox, the Government informant, was a participant in the conversations and gave unrebutted testimony that the transcripts were correct to the best of his knowledge. Unlike the circumstances in Devous, defense counsel here were given access to the tapes before trial and had made their own transcripts. They neither attempted to enter into a stipulation with the Government nor offered to submit their own version of the transcripts at trial. We agree with the district court's conclusion that the inconsistencies between the transcripts and the tapes pointed to by defendants are insignificant. Maddox's testimony on cross-examination that several statements assigned to Wright could have been made by Kirby does not convince us that there was a deficiency in authentication. Moreover, the district court exercised due caution by instructing the jury that any inconsistencies should be resolved by resort to the tapes. See United States v. Robinson, 707 F.2d 872, 878 (6th Cir.1983).