Opinion ID: 425136
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Co-conspirator Testimony

Text: 3 Radseck was the Indiana claims manager for the Milwaukee Mutual Insurance Company (Milwaukee Mutual). In 1978, Radseck met with Larry Hiner, a partner in the Round Construction Company (Round), and promised Hiner insurance work in exchange for a fifteen-percent kickback of the gross amount realized on Milwaukee Mutual work. After discussing the proposal with his partner, William Casassa, Hiner agreed to pay the kickbacks and Round began receiving work from Radseck. Hiner and Casassa continued their arrangement with Radseck until March 1979. Both Hiner and Casassa testified for the government as unindicted co-conspirators. 4 Hiner testified extensively about the kickback arrangement between Round and Radseck. The government then called Casassa, who testified that Hiner had related to him the details of Radseck's original proposal. Casassa's testimony concerning those initial discussions, to which he was not a party, was admitted pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), the co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rule. A statement is admissible under this rule only when the government has established by a preponderance of the evidence, independent of the statement itself, that (1) a conspiracy existed, (2) that the defendants and the declarant were members of the conspiracy, and (3) that the statement was made in the course of the conspiracy. United States v. Xheka, 704 F.2d 974, 985 (7th Cir.1983); United States v. Santiago, 582 F.2d 1128 (7th Cir.1978). The preliminary determination that the government has in fact established a conspiracy is made by the trial judge pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 104(a). Santiago, supra, 582 F.2d at 1130-31, 1133. 5 The admission of Casassa's testimony was preceded by an extended colloquy between the court and the attorneys for both sides. The discussion, which covers twelve pages of the trial transcript, concerns the requirements of Santiago, and the testimony already in evidence that could support an independent finding of conspiracy. All the parties to this discussion correctly identified the burden of proof applicable to the preliminary conspiracy determination as a showing by the preponderance of the evidence. In response to the objection to the hearsay testimony, the trial judge stated, The Court must determine if by a preponderance of the evidence the declarant and the Defendant were members of a conspiracy when the hearsay statement was made and that the statement was in furtherance of the conspiracy. More discussion followed, during which both attorneys also referred to the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. However, in deciding to admit the testimony, the trial judge concluded that he was convinced certainly to the extent of a prima facie case having been established, that there was a conspiracy .... The appellant now complains of this isolated reference to a prima facie standard. 6 Because the trial judge discussed Santiago at length, and because the judge and the attorneys referred to the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard at all times except this one instance, we are convinced that the trial judge understood and used the correct standard to evaluate the evidence of a conspiracy. Hiner's testimony is sufficient to establish a conspiracy, and although the appellant attacks Hiner's credibility, we must defer to the trial judge's decision crediting Hiner's testimony.