Opinion ID: 557354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Out-of-Court Statements of Candeloria Barrios

Text: 15 At trial appellant attempted to introduce a statement made by Candeloria Barrios to the effect that she had told Gomez to travel to Tampa to pick up money. This statement would have been relevant to appellant's defense that he did not know he was receiving drugs. The district court, however, found that the statement was barred as hearsay. We agree. 16 The statement allegedly was made by Barrios in the presence of Gomez and his sister, Mary Angel Garcia, after Gomez had been arrested. Appellant asserted that Barrios was afraid to testify because she thought she would be subject to prosecution, that she now was unavailable, but that Garcia was prepared to testify as to the content of the conversation. Appellant asserts several reasons for admitting this statement as an exception to the hearsay prohibition: (1) the statement is admissible because it was the statement of a coconspirator under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E); 5 (2) the statement was offered not for its truth but to show Gomez's state of mind on his trip to Tampa, and admissible under Rule 803(3); and (3) Rule 804(b)(3) permitted admission of the statement as a statement against declarant's interest. 17 Appellant acknowledges that most statements of coconspirators made after an arrest cannot amount to statements in furtherance of the conspiracy. United States v. Postal, 589 F.2d 862 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 832, 100 S.Ct. 61, 62 L.Ed.2d 40 (1979). Nonetheless, he argues that because Barrios had not been arrested, her statements could still have been in furtherance of the conspiracy. This contention ignores the fact that Gomez's involvement in the conspiracy had ended, and that Barrios' statement regarding what Gomez had done in the past could not have furthered the conspiracy to import the cocaine which had already been confiscated. Her statement was relevant only to the conspiracy which had ended with Gomez's arrest, and as such could not be admitted under Rule 801(d)(2)(E). 18 Nor could the district court have admitted the statement as indicative of the defendant's state of mind under Rule 803(3). Appellant asserts that the statement would show his state of mind, that is that he thought he was travelling to Tampa to pick up money, and therefore was admissible. Rule 803(3) expressly relates to [a] statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind ... but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed. Gomez attempted to introduce the statement not to show Barrios' state of mind, but to show his, and the statement itself concerned her memory of her prior statement. He was not trying to introduce a statement he made concerning his belief at the time of the Tampa trip, but a statement that asserted the truth of his contention that Barrios had told him to pick up money. The district court correctly refused to admit this statement on this ground. See United States v. Cohen, 631 F.2d 1223, 1225 (5th Cir.1980). 19 Finally, Barrios' statement could not have been admitted under Rule 804(b)(3). That rule permits admission of an otherwise hearsay statement if the declarant is unavailable and the statement is against the declarant's interest. The rule provides, in part, that [a] statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate the accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. There is no question that Barrios was unavailable, and although the government offers some argument that her statement did not directly assert her culpability, we find that we need not determine that issue because there was no indication of trustworthiness of the statement. The statement occurred after Gomez's arrest, in the presence of the defendant and his sister and no one else. Trustworthiness can be established primarily by demonstrating that the statement was uttered in the presence of a court or law enforcement officer, United States v. Thomas, 571 F.2d 285 (5th Cir.1978), but such was not the case here. The court in Thomas also observed that, in determining trustworthiness, the court should determine what the possibility was that the declarant fabricated the statement. In other words, it must be unlikely, judging from the circumstances, that the statement was fabricated. Far from indicating trustworthiness, the circumstances surrounding this alleged statement--consultation between conspirators after an arrest of one of them--indicate a possibility of fabrication. The district court correctly denied appellant's attempt to introduce this statement.