Opinion ID: 2975781
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion of Black’s letter

Text: The district court did not err in refusing to admit into evidence the contents of a letter written by Black in which Black takes responsibility for all drugs in the Plum Street apartment. This court reviews district court evidentiary rulings regarding the admissibility of hearsay statements for abuse of discretion. United States v. Price, 134 F.3d 340, 345 (6th Cir. 1998). - 13 - Nos. 06-5810, 06-5811 United States v. Lofton and Black Before trial, Black wrote a letter in which he claimed that Lofton no longer lived in the Plum Street apartment, owned nothing inside it, and knew nothing about Black’s activities therein. The Government made an oral motion during trial to preclude introduction of the contents of the letter through the defense’s first witness. In response, Lofton relied on the hearsay exception articulated in Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3), arguing that the contents of the letter constituted a statement against Black’s penal interest. The district court, believing that Black would be available to testify, declined to conduct a premature Rule 804(b)(3) analysis to determine the admissibility of the letter. Although the district court indicated that the letter may become admissible under Rule 804(b)(3) if Black were later to become unavailable, Lofton’s counsel did not call Black as a witness and never again raised the issue of the letter’s admissibility. Lofton argues on appeal that the district court erred by excluding the letter from evidence, and that this alleged error denied him of his right to a fair trial under the Sixth Amendment. His argument fails. At the time of the district court’s initial and tentative ruling that the contents of the letter were inadmissible, Lofton had not demonstrated that the requirements of Rule 804(b)(3) had been met. See Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 183 n.6 (1997) (“It is important that a reviewing court evaluate the trial court’s decision from its perspective when it had to rule and not indulge in review by hindsight.”). Three conditions must be met before a district court may admit a statement against penal interest under Rule 804(b)(3): “(1) the declarant must be unavailable to testify; (2) the statement must subject the declarant to criminal liability in a real and tangible way; and (3) corroborating circumstances must clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.” - 14 - Nos. 06-5810, 06-5811 United States v. Lofton and Black Price, 134 F.3d at 347. Although Lofton argues in hindsight that these circumstances were met and that Black was unavailable to testify, he did not attempt to demonstrate Black’s unavailability either before or at the time of the district court’s initial ruling. Because he had failed to satisfy his burden of establishing unavailability, see United States v. Pelton, 578 F.2d 701, 709-10 (6th Cir. 1978), he cannot now complain about the district court’s preliminary and tentative adverse ruling. What is more, nothing in the district court’s preliminary ruling prevented Lofton from calling Black to testify, from introducing the letter on a showing of Black’s unavailability, from demonstrating the letter’s trustworthiness, or from revisiting the letter’s admissibility in any other way, all of which Lofton failed to do. Lofton’s unexplained failure to call Black or establish the prerequisites of the letter’s admissibility did not result from any error on the part of the district court. Thus, the district court’s preliminary ruling was not an abuse of discretion, and it did not interfere with Lofton’s right to present a defense under the Sixth Amendment.