Opinion ID: 2816856
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statement One

Text: Webb testified about the DV’s home-invasion robberies of Guatemalan immigrants. He was asked, “And is there anything about the stature of Guatemalans that, according to DV gang members, make them an attractive target?” Ramirez R., Vol. III at 982. He replied, “Yes. I’ve been told that they are small. They’re also scared about their immigration status and . . . they’re afraid if they call law enforcement that they will be deported.” Id. Defendants contend that admission of the answer was error. The hearsay is readily apparent from the exchange. Webb was asked for his opinion about whether Guatemalans’ stature makes them attractive targets “according to DV gang members.” Id. (emphasis added). His answer relayed at least one out-of-court statement: “I’ve been told that they are small.” Id. (emphasis added). And that 1 Defendants identify eight allegedly problematic statements in their briefing, but at trial they objected on Confrontation Clause grounds to only five of them. On appeal they do not argue that the admission of the other three statements was plain error, so we will not review them. See United States v. McGehee, 672 F.3d 860, 873 (10th Cir. 2012) (“[W]here a defendant has forfeited an issue in the district court, in order to prevail in an appellate challenge regarding that issue, a defendant must make a sufficient showing of error under the plain-error standard.”). 34 statement was offered for its truth (not that Guatemalans are small, but why DV gang members target them). Webb indicated that the source of his information was investigative interviews, and the government has not suggested that the hearsay he relied on was other than testimonial. See Bryant, 131 S. Ct. at 1155 (statements gathered from “formal, out-of-court interrogation of a witness to obtain evidence for trial” are testimonial). The government cannot plausibly argue that Webb applied his expertise to this statement. It involves no interpretation of gang culture or iconography, no deciphering of coded messages, no calibrated judgment based on years of experience and the synthesis of multiple sources of information. He simply relayed what DV gang members told him. Admission of the testimony violated the Confrontation Clause. Still, we must decide whether in light of the whole record Webb’s testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Factors for determining harmless error include “the importance of the witness’[s] . . . testimony in the prosecution’s case, the cumulative nature of the testimony, the presence or absence of corroborating or contradictory testimony, the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted, and the overall strength of the prosecution’s case.” Summers, 414 F.3d at 1303 (internal quotation marks omitted). We conclude that the testimony was harmless. The “expert opinion” that DV members targeted Guatemalans added little to the other evidence on the matter. Jesus Flores and the victims gave first-hand testimony that Defendants participated in a home35 invasion robbery of Guatemalans. DV member Galindo testified that he and other gang members were involved in about 20 robberies of Guatemalan immigrants, whom they targeted because they would hold their money in cash rather than deposit it in banks. And Webb testified at length without objection (at trial or on appeal) that Norteñoaffiliated gangs committed home-invasion robberies of Guatemalan immigrants.