Opinion ID: 473082
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Medical Records

Text: 17 We review a district court's decision to admit evidence for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Ordonez, 737 F.2d 793, 811 (9th Cir.1984).
18 The sixth amendment's confrontation clause provides that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against them. U.S. Const. amend. VI. The clause indicates a preference for face-to-face confrontation at trial and is primarily intended to secure the right of cross-examination. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 63, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2537, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). Although based on similar principles, the confrontation clause and the hearsay rule are not coextensive. Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 86, 91 S.Ct. 210, 218, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970). Thus, admitting a hearsay statement into evidence may still violate the confrontation clause even though the evidence falls within a recognized hearsay exception. See Dutton, 400 U.S. at 82, 91 S.Ct. at 216; California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155-56, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 1933-34, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970); United States v. Huber, 772 F.2d 585, 588 (9th Cir.1985). 19 Before the Court's recent decision in United States v. Inadi, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 1121, 89 L.Ed.2d 390 (1986), evidence admissable under a hearsay exception was also scrutinized under the confrontation clause through a two-prong test elaborated in Roberts : 20 In sum, when a hearsay declarant is not present for cross-examination at trial, the Confrontation Clause normally requires a showing that he is unavailable. Even then, his statement is admissible only if it bears adequate indicia of reliability. 21 448 U.S. at 66, 100 S.Ct. at 2539. The unavailability prong of Roberts, however, is not an absolute requirement. The government need not demonstrate the unavailability of a hearsay declarant when the utility of trial confrontation [is] remote. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 65 n. 7, 100 S.Ct. at 2538 n. 7 (citing Dutton, 400 U.S. at 87, 91 S.Ct. at 219); see Huber, 772 F.2d at 588; United States v. Perez, 658 F.2d 654, 661 (9th Cir.1981). In Dutton, the court did not require production of a seemingly available witness because the hearsay statement was of peripheral significance in light of the plethora of other evidence. Dutton, 400 U.S. at 87, 91 S.Ct. at 219; see Huber, 772 F.2d at 588. Thus, a showing of unavailablity may be unnecessary where the testimony is neither 'crucial' to the prosecution nor 'devastating' to the defendant. Perez, 658 F.2d at 661 (quoting Dutton, 400 U.S. at 87, 91 S.Ct. at 219); see Huber, 772 F.2d at 588; United States v. McClintock, 748 F.2d 1278, 1292 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 75, 88 L.Ed.2d 61 (1985). 6 22 In Inadi, the Court held that the unavailability prong of Roberts is inapplicable to hearsay statements of a nontestifying coconspirator admitted under the coconspirator exception of Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). Inadi, 106 S.Ct. at 1129. The Court held that unlike the prior testimony evaluated in Roberts, which is merely a substitute for in-court testimony, statements made during a conspiracy have an evidentary significance that cannot be replicated by in-court testimony. Id. at 1126-27. The Court also noted that if the defendant wishes to cross-examine the declarant, he may subpoena the declarant as a witness. Id. at 1127-28. 23 Some language of the Inadi opinion casts doubt on the general application of the Roberts unavailability prong to hearsay other than prior testimony. See Inadi, 106 S.Ct. at 1125-26. 7 The Court, however, subsequently decided Lee v. Illinois, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986), in which it held that a codefendant's hearsay confession inculpating the defendant was inadmissable under the confrontation clause because it was unreliable. In analyzing the reliability of the codefendant's confession, both the majority and the dissent in Lee assumed that the unavailability prong of Roberts applied to the codefendant's confession. Id. 106 S.Ct. at 2061, 2067 n. 2 (Blackmun, J., dissenting). 24 Thus, it is unclear, in light of Inadi and Lee, whether the unavailablity prong applies to hearsay statements admitted under the business records exception. We need not decide this issue, however, because we find that the statements were properly admitted in this case even if the unavailablity prong of Roberts, vis-a-vis the business records exception, survives Inadi. We will thus assume arguendo, as did the Court in Lee, that the unavailability analysis of Roberts applies to this case.
25 Appellant contends that the admission of the medical records of Lemuel Goode violated the confrontation clause because the doctor who entered the information on the records did not testify. 8 Although the government produced the custodian of the hospital records at trial to establish a foundation for the admission of the medical records under the business records exception, it failed to produce or demonstrate the unavailability of the doctor. See Roberts, 448 U.S. at 65, 100 S.Ct. at 2538. Were the government required to establish in this case that the doctor who prepared the medical records was unavailable, then, the admission of the records would run afoul of the confrontation clause. 9 In this case, however, a showing of unavailablilty was not required because the evidence contained in the records was of peripheral significance. 26 Appellant claims that the admission of the medical records was crucial in establishing the element of serious bodily injury. 10 He contends that he was denied the opportunity to challenge the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in the records. The evidence in the medical records, however, corroborated extensive evidence concerning the nature of Goode's injuries. Goode himself testified at length about the nature of his injuries and the extent of his hospitalization. 11 Other witnesses testified that appellant repeatedly hit Goode on the head and body with a large stick. Additionally, several witnesses testified that after the beating, Goode was bleeding from his head and apparently was unconscious. 12 Finally, the government introduced photographs of Goode taken by a police officer. The photographs apparently demonstrated that Goode's injuries were serious. 27 In sum, the medical records simply corroborated the testimony of several witnesses, and especially the victim, that he suffered severe injuries as a result of the beating. The evidence contained in the medical records was neither crucial to the government nor devastating to the defense; further, any utility in confronting the doctor would have been remote. Thus the records were admissible without a showing of unavailability. See Roberts, 448 U.S. at 65 n. 7, 100 S.Ct. at 2538 n. 7; Dutton, 400 U.S. at 87-88, 91 S.Ct. at 219. 28 Moreover, confrontation clause violations are subject to harmless error analysis. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1437-38, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986); see Lee, 106 S.Ct. at 2065-66; United States v. Mouzin, 785 F.2d 682, 693 (9th Cir.1986). The admission of the medical records in this case does not require a reversal if the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Van Arsdall, 106 S.Ct. at 1438. Whether a violation of the confrontation clause is harmless depends on a variety of factors including: (1) the importance of the evidence to the prosecutions's case; (2) whether the evidence was cumulative; (3) the presence of corroborating evidence; (4) the overall strength of the prosecution's case. Id. 29 In this case, any error is harmless because, as discussed above, the evidence was of peripheral significance to the case.