Opinion ID: 496776
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Admissibility of Statements by Joint Venturers

Text: 50 Kaplan attacks the admission of statements from conversations between Drs. Rosenthal and Hershenow and between Rosenthal and Shraiar, a pharmacist. The challenged declarations relate to Rosenthal's recruitment of Hershenow in 1973, to his explanation about the referral system and partial payment method with Kaplan, and to his intention of developing a practice of cross-referrals with Hershenow in personal injury cases handled by Kaplan. Kaplan also sought to exclude on hearsay grounds Rosenthal's statement that he had requested from Shraiar (from 1976 through 1978) false bills in some of Kaplan's cases. Over defendant's specific objections, the court provisionally admitted these declarations under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), subject to a Petrozziello finding at the end of trial that: 51 it is more likely than not that the declarant and the defendant were members of a conspiracy when the hearsay statement[s] [were] made, and that the statement[s] [were] in furtherance of the conspiracy. 52 United States v. Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20, 23 (1st Cir.1977). 53 We find no merit to the argument that the court cannot consider under Petrozziello those events occurring after the proferred statements as proof of defendant's participation in a conspiracy or a joint venture. See United States v. Silvano, 812 F.2d 754, 762 (1st Cir.1987); see also United States v. Reynolds, 828 F.2d 46, 47-48 (1st Cir.1987). A related contention is that Rosenthal's statements were inadmissible against Kaplan since he was unaware that Rosenthal had ever requested false bills from Shraiar. This claim is unavailable. See United States v. Baines, 812 F.2d 41, 42 (1st Cir.1987) (when a party knowingly joins a conspiracy he takes responsibility for the conspirator's conduct regardless of whether he is aware of every detail). 54 We now review the court's findings for clear error. United States v. Williams, 809 F.2d 75, 89 (1st Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1959, 95 L.Ed.2d 531 (1987). The court's finding of a scheme or joint venture to defraud is undisputed. Its conclusion that defendant knowingly participated in the scheme was based on preponderant evidence on the record as a whole: (1) Kaplan's authority and control over his firm, particularly over disbursements to clients and doctors; (2) Rosenthal's meeting with Kaplan in 1973 regarding partial payment of bills in money orders; (3) the referral arrangement; and (4) Kaplan's expression of anger from Rosenthal's revelations to Hershenow. We find no clear error as to these findings. 55 Furthermore, we hold that the statements were made during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). The record supports that the challenged statements, occurring in 1973 and between 1976-1978, were within the time frame of the fraudulent scheme as charged in the indictment. And the declarations, as they advanced the objectives of the scheme were made in furtherance thereof. United States v. Fahey, 769 F.2d 829, 839 (1st Cir.1985). The scheme was like a mathematical equation. On one side, Kaplan paid less than the face value of the bills. On the other, the face value was higher than their real value, since most bills submitted by Rosenthal and Hershenow were inflated. Thus, Rosenthal's statements permitted an inference that the profitability of the discounted payment plan with Kaplan turned on whether Shraiar understood he had to submit false bills to Kaplan and on whether Hershenow willingly accepted discounted payments from Kaplan. In that sense, the statements advanced the scheme. 56