Opinion ID: 6111678
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of the Video Evidence

Text: Defense counsel objected to the admission of both videos before they were played at trial. Pena's counsel argued, among other things, that none of the statements made by Pena or Ortiz in the videos were admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E) because the prosecution had not established a conspiracy outside the four corners of the video. Ortiz's counsel additionally asserted that, with respect to the January 6 hotel-room video, all statements made after the alleged bathroom exchange were unfairly prejudicial and thus inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 403, characterizing them as racist, misogynistic, or inflammatory in substance. Neither counsel specifically objected, however, to the admissibility of any recorded statements attributable to Black or the unidentified third man in the hotel suite -- out-of-court statements the defendants now claim for the first time to be inadmissible hearsay.4 As such, the district court ruled that the prosecution Hearsay generally refers to statements that (1) are 4 made outside of the courtroom and (2) are offered as evidence to prove the truth of whatever the statement asserts. Fed. R. Evid. 801. Statements that are made outside of court but are offered for some other purpose, such as context (or other purposes explained and defined by the courts), do not constitute hearsay, despite the occasional and often colloquial misuse of the term by some. As discussed in further detail herein, the Federal Rules of Evidence generally prohibit parties from using hearsay as evidence unless it falls into a exception provided in a federal statute or some other rule of court or evidence. Id. R. 802. - 8 - could play all of the video and audio recording evidence, reserving its determination on whether certain statements made therein by the defendants were admissible as coconspirator statements under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E) until after the prosecution rested.5