Opinion ID: 202624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of 911 Tape Transcript

Text: 8 Shoup first contends that the district court erred in allowing the government to introduce in evidence the audiotape and transcript of Carvalho's 911 call, because they do not qualify under any exclusion from the hearsay rule, see Fed. R.Evid. 801(d)(1)(A) (prior statement inconsistent with trial testimony); id. 801(d)(1)(B) (prior consistent statement to rebut charge of recent fabrication); id. 801(d)(1)(C) (statement of identification), and their admission constitutes reversible error because Carvalho's in-court testimony was much more tentative in identifying the object in Shoup's waistband as a handgun (or as one of the two guns in evidence), and standing alone, would not have persuaded the jury to reject the defense's theory that the two guns belonged to Nobile and that Shoup was unaware of their presence in the locked console of the car. 9 As Shoup did not object to the admission of the 911 recording or transcript, we review his challenge for plain error only, and will reverse only if he demonstrates that (i) there was error; (ii) the error was obvious; and (iii) the error affected Shoup's substantial rights by altering the outcome of the trial. See United States v. Bartos, 417 F.3d 34, 36 (1st Cir.2005) (noting that, provided these three conditions are satisfied, the court may in its discretion, reverse to prevent a miscarriage of justice) (citing United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 734-35, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993)). 10 Shoup's argument fails, since he can show neither that there was error, nor if there were an error, that it was obvious. The government contends that the 911 call satisfies either the excited utterance or the present sense impression exception to the hearsay rule. See Fed.R.Evid. 803(2) (noting that a statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition is an exception to the hearsay rule); id. 803(1) (noting that a statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition, or immediately thereafter[,] is an exception to the hearsay rule). 11 Shoup counters, inter alia, that the 911 recording would not have been admissible under either exception since too much time had elapsed between the time Shoup confronted Carvalho with the gun and the time Carvalho spoke with the 911 dispatcher. Rules 803(1) and (2) do not require that the statement occur contemporaneously with the event, however, since in many, if not most, instances precise contemporaneity is not possible and hence a slight [time] lapse is allowable. Fed. R.Evid. 803(1) advisory committee's note; see United States v. Taveras, 380 F.3d 532, 537 (1st Cir.2004) (noting that permissible delay may in fact be even a few minutes or more). Given Carvalho's testimony that Shoup drove away only one or two minutes into Carvalho's 911 call, Carvalho's 911 call came immediately after his confrontation with Shoup, and while Carvalho's friends were still outside with Shoup and remained at risk. See United States v. Rondeau, 430 F.3d 44, 48 (1st Cir.2005) (finding no error in admission of 911 call made as or immediately after [defendant] threatened [the caller] with the gun). Carvalho began the call by declaring that Shoup has a gun in his pants. 12 Further, the record contains no other indication that the 911 recording lacked evidentiary reliability. The defense stipulated to the accuracy of the transcript of the 911 call. The Carvalho in-court testimony was entirely consistent with the 911 tape, and in many respects more detailed. Id. (noting that 911 caller never changed his account of the events). Carvalho testified that he saw something in his [Shoup's] waistband that I believed at the time was a pistol, with silver duct tape on its handle. Although Carvalho conceded that he had observed the gun Shoup was carrying in his waistband for about five seconds and could not identify it positively as either of the two handguns in evidence, he further testified that, except for it appearing smaller than he remembered, the gun with the silver-colored handle looks like the visual memory that I have of [the gun]. Further, the police managed to corroborate the other facts stated in the 911 call, by stopping a black Chevy Tahoe with license plate 8549 VZ in the nearby downtown area within minutes of the Carvalho call and by seizing a gun with a silver-colored handle from the vehicle. Id. at 48-49 (noting that police corroborated 911 call by locating defendant near caller's building in a car matching caller's description, and a gun which the caller identified). Given these circumstances, it is indeed doubtful that admission of the 911 call was error at all, let alone plain error. 13 In any event, since the time-lapse delimitation on an excited utterance or a present sense impression is by no means a bright-line test, see Fed.R.Evid. 803(1) advisory committee's note (`How long can excitement prevail? Obviously there can be no pat answers and the character of the transaction or event will largely determine the significance of the time factor.') (citation omitted), Shoup cannot demonstrate that the district court would have committed obvious error had it determined that the 911 call was admissible under these two hearsay exceptions. See, e.g., United States v. Abraham, 386 F.3d 1033, 1037 (11th Cir.2004) (finding no plain error where 911 caller reported that defendant used a gun to threaten his girlfriend's mother and sister), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 417, 163 L.Ed.2d 318 (2005); accord United States v. Hartmann, 958 F.2d 774, 784 (7th Cir.1992) (finding no plain error where declarant just overheard plot to murder him). By failing to lodge a contemporaneous objection to the admission of the 911 tape and transcript, Shoup precluded (thus relieved) the government from presenting its best evidence as to the time-lapse issue, and the district court from making the attendant findings of fact. For these reasons, we perceive no plain error.