Opinion ID: 2534158
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Receipts for Retail Purchases

Text: Twilegar contends that the trial court erred in admitting the receipts for retail purchases found at the Tennessee campsite. The business record exception to the hearsay rule provides as follows in relevant part: (6) RECORDS OF REGULARLY CONDUCTED BUSINESS ACTIVITY. (a) A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinion, or diagnosis, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make such memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, or as shown by a certification or declaration that complies with paragraph (c) and s. 90.902(11), unless the sources of information or other circumstances show lack of trustworthiness. The term business as used in this paragraph includes a business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit. § 90.803(6)(a), Fla. Stat. (2007) (emphasis added). To lay a proper foundation for use of business records, certain steps must be taken: In order to lay a foundation for the admission of a business record, it is necessary to call a witness who can show that each of the foundational requirements set out in the statute is present. It is not necessary to call the person who actually prepared the document. The records custodian or any qualified witness who has the necessary knowledge to testify as to how the record was made can lay the necessary foundation. Forester v. Norman Roger, Jewell & Brooks Int'l, Inc., 610 So.2d 1369, 1373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (citation omitted). Applying the above law to the present case, we conclude that the trial court erred in initially admitting the retail receipts through the testimony of Deputy Holt without first requiring the State to establish a sufficient foundation, but the error was cured as to most of the receipts and was harmless as to the others, as explained below. Deputy Holt testified that after he removed property from the campsite at Lot 8, he found a number of retail receipts in an unlocked briefcase. He then read to the jury numerous receipts, reciting the name of each business and the date of each receipt and sometimes the amount and whether the purchase was made in cash. He explained that the dates ranged from August 3, 2002, to August 22, 2002, and that the locations began in Florida and ended in Tennessee. He testified that, using the receipts, he had mapped out the dates on a calendar in an effort to identify the owner of the property. Later at trial, two Wal-Mart employees and a NAPA employee testified in detail concerning the contents of the numerous receipts from their businesses: they testified as to the dates of the purchases, the amounts of the purchases, the items purchased, whether the purchases were in cash, and the amounts tendered. On this record, the trial court erred in admitting the receipts through the testimony of Deputy Holt, for the receipts were admitted for the truth of the matters asserted (the dates of the purchases, the amounts, the locations, and whether the purchases were made in cash) and Deputy Holt was not qualified to, and did not attempt to, attest to the fact that the receipts were records of regularly conducted business activity for the respective businesses. However, the error was cured as to the Wal-Mart and NAPA receipts when employees of those businesses subsequently testified concerning the business practices of their companies in this respect, for each of those witnesses possessed sufficient knowledge to attest to such matters. As for the remaining receipts, only two are significant: one from 7-Eleven dated August 8, 2002, at 12:39 a.m., in the amount of $688.97, for three cell phones and other supplies, for which cash was paid; and one from Sam's Club dated August 14, 2002, in the amount of $435.56, for a generator, for which cash was paid. However, in light of Jennifer Morrison's testimony concerning the events of late night August 7, 2002, and early morning August 8, 2002, with respect to Twilegar's purchases at 7-Eleven, and in light of the copious other evidence of retail purchases that was properly admitted, the admission of these receipts was harmless. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129, 1139 (Fla.1986) (The question is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the error affected the verdict.). Accordingly, although Twilegar has shown that the trial court erred with respect to this claim, the error was cured in part and is harmless in part.