Opinion ID: 439164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: hearsay statements of one soto-veliz

Text: 21 Soto-Veliz (Soto) was one of the undocumented aliens being transported. Prior to the trial, he had returned to Mexico. After having properly determined that Soto was unavailable, the district judge allowed the prosecution to introduce, through the testimony of immigration officers, statements that Soto had made to the officials in respect to his place of birth, his origin, and his ancestry. Since some of this testimony went to a critical element of the crimes charged, i.e., the illegal alienage of Soto, we think the trial judge would have been better advised to exclude it. See Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 87, 91 S.Ct. 210, 219, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970). This is our judgment, notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 804(b)(4) of the Federal Rules of Evidence allowing for the admission of hearsay statements relating to birth, ancestry, and other historical facts about which the declarant would necessarily have no personal knowledge. At the same time, a review of the record as a whole indicates to us, without doubt, that the court's evidentiary error, if it were such, did not substantially affect the fairness of the trial and was not of such prejudicial harm as to require a new trial. Even should it be assumed that Rivera was denied a constitutional right under the Confrontation Clause, the denial was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); cf. Anderson v. Nelson, 390 U.S. 523, 88 S.Ct. 1133, 20 L.Ed.2d 81 (1968).