Opinion ID: 380518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: inadmissible hearsay evidence

Text: 20 The second issue in this case is whether the district court properly excluded from evidence a hearsay statement. Fong attempted to introduce a statement allegedly made by an American Airlines secretary who purportedly had seen two Caucasian employees under circumstances which might have indicated that they were taking airline property off the premises. The secretary allegedly stated to Fong: 21 I can't understand why you (Mr. Fong) got fired. Mr. Hoppler (manager of Maintenance) and I saw Rossi and Stevens (mechanics for American Airlines) leaving a plane a couple of weeks ago with stuff in their jackets. We were pretty certain that they had liquor in their pockets. Mr. Hoppler told their foreman that he better tell the men they better straighten up or they won't be around next year. 22 This statement does not relate an exciting event, there exists no written record of it, and it is not corroborated by other evidence. There is no indication that the secretary's memory, narration, perception, and sincerity were more reliable than that of any other hearsay declarant. United States v. Friedman, 593 F.2d 109, 119 (9th Cir. 1979). The circumstances surrounding the secretary's statement are not rare or exceptional. Instead they are very routine. 23 The statement was properly excluded from evidence. The secretary's deposition does not support Fong's interpretation of her statement. When deposed she testified that it had never entered her mind to guess what was in their jackets, and that daily she had seen mechanics walking around with jackets bulging as a result of tools used on the airplanes. The statement that Fong sought to introduce into evidence is hearsay. It was made out of court and it is being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. It does not fall into one of the traditional hearsay exceptions. Consequently, to be admitted, it must come within the scope of the residual hearsay exception provided by Fed.R.Evid. 803(24) and 804(b)(5). 2 This exception is not to be used as a new and broad hearsay exception, but rather is to be used rarely and in exceptional circumstances. United States v. Kim, 595 F.2d 755, 765 (D.C.Cir.1979). To admit a statement under the residual exception, the trial court must find the existence of five factors. 3 Most importantly, the statement must have circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to those present in the traditional exceptions to the hearsay rule. United States v. Hoyos, 573 F.2d 1111, 1116 (9th Cir. 1978); United States v. Mathis, 559 F.2d 294, 298 (5th Cir. 1977). 24 The traditional exceptions to the hearsay rule depend for their support on circumstances such as belief of impending death, high degree of excitement, dependable written records, and so on, each of which tends to support otherwise untrustworthy hearsay evidence. The secretary's statement does not fit into one of these established categories, nor does it share any of their circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness. It is run-of-the-mill hearsay. 25 Affirmed.