Opinion ID: 14713
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: At the arraignment or as soon after the

Text: arraignment as practicable, a party intending to offer in evidence under this section a foreign record of regularly conducted activity shall provide written notice of that intention to each other party. A motion opposing admission in evidence of such record shall be made by the opposing party and determined by the court before trial. Failure by a party to file such motion before trial shall constitute a waiver of objection to such record or duplicate, but the court for cause shown may grant relief from the waiver. 18 U.S.C. § 3505. Garcia Abrego contends that the government failed to comply with the notice requirement contained in § 3505(b) because it did not provide notice of its intention to introduce the foreign records until over six months after his indictment25 even though the government had been in possession of the records in connection with another prosecution for approximately two years.26 Garcia Abrego thus argues that the government did not of that country.” 18 U.S.C. § 3505(c)(2). 25 Garcia Abrego was arraigned on February 6, 1996. The government gave notice that it intended to introduce the records on August 15, 1996. 26 Garcia Abrego also complains that the documents were not accompanied by a proper certification as required by 78 provide notice “as soon after the arraignment as practicable,” as required by the statute and that the records were therefore inadmissible under § 3505. Id. As the district court observed, the government “certainly [did] not act[] with diligence in giving [the] notice” required by § 3505(b). However, we conclude that this lack of diligence did not render the records inadmissible under the statute. The plain language of § 3505 does not make compliance with the notice requirement a prerequisite to the admissibility of evidence under the statute. First, subsection (a) of § 3505, which establishes the requirements for admissibility under the section, makes no reference to subsection (b), which establishes the notice requirement. This would indicate that compliance with the notice requirement is not a precondition of admissibility. Subsection (b) also contains a requirement that the party opposing admission of a foreign record under § 3505 must object before trial or otherwise waive the objection. This would indicate that the provisions of subsection (b) are meant to facilitate pretrial determinations of the admissibility of foreign records under § 3505 rather than establish prerequisites to admissibility under § 3505(a)(1). He argues without further explanation that the certifications were improper because they were made in connection with another criminal case. However, the matters that the statute requires that the certification address mirror the four requirements for rendering a normal business record admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, none of which are case-specific. Compare 13 U.S.C. § 3505(a)(1) with FED. R. EVID. 803(6). Garcia Abrego advances no argument as to why the required contents of the certification would be any different in this case than in the previous one. We therefore reject this argument. 79 the statute. The legislative history of § 3505 bears out this conclusion. The House Report on the bill that ultimately became § 3505 states that “[t]he purpose of the legislation is to make foreignkept business records more readily admissible into evidence in criminal trials in United States courts.” H.R. REP. NO. 98-907, at 2 (1984), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3578, 3578. This general statement of § 3505's purpose indicates that the procedural requirements of subsection (b) are designed to facilitate the admission of foreign business records rather than serve as an impediment to their admissibility. Furthermore, the House Report goes on to state the following: Subsection (b) of section 3505 is intended to promote the resolution before trial of questions concerning the admissibility of foreign business records. Subsection (b) requires that the party intending to offer the foreign business record provide written notification of that intention to all other parties to the case. Any objection to the admissibility of the foreign record must be made in writing and filed with the court before trial, and the court must decide the motion before trial. Failure of a party to raise an objection before trial constitutes a waiver of the objection. The court, for good cause shown, however, can grant relief from the waiver. Id. at 6, reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3578, 3582 (emphasis added). This passage indicates that the primary purpose of subsection (b) is to force parties opposing the admission of foreign business records to lodge their objections before trial so that questions of admissibility may be resolved at an early stage. A requirement of early notice of a party’s intention to offer such records is a necessary concomitant to a pretrial 80 determination of their admissibility. Without sufficient pretrial notice of a party’s intention to offer foreign business records, it would certainly be unfair to conclude that the party opposing the admission of such records has waived his or her objections to the admissibility of the records by failing to assert them pretrial. However, were we to conclude that a failure to give timely notice of an intent to offer foreign records under § 3505 bars admission of the records pursuant to the statute, we would flout § 3505’s purpose by turning a requirement intended to facilitate the admission of foreign business records into a procedural barrier impeding their admission. The statute’s legislative history indicates that Congress wished to “promote” pretrial resolution of evidentiary disputes regarding foreign business records, not to require such resolution. Id. Section 3505 “was not intended to add technical roadblocks to the admission of foreign records, but, rather, to streamline the admission of such records.” United States v. Strickland, 935 F.2d 822, 831 (7th Cir. 1991). The government provided Garcia Abrego with notice of its intention to offer the foreign records twenty-six days before the suppression hearing at which the district court made the initial determination of their admissibility and forty-eight days prior to their admission into evidence at his trial. Garcia Abrego never requested more time to investigate the reliability or authenticity of the records and does not now complain that he was in any way prejudiced by the 81 timing of the government’s notice.27 We therefore conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that the foreign bank records were admissible under § 3505.28 2. Confrontation Clause Garcia Abrego next argues that admission of the foreign records violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause because he was unable to cross examine the custodian of the records. He argues that, unlike ordinary domestic business records, foreign records do not occupy a well-rooted exception to the hearsay rule and lack adequate indicia of reliability to be admissible without violating the Confrontation Clause. We disagree. The admission of the foreign business records does not violate the Confrontation Clause so long as the records “bear[] adequate indicia of reliability.” Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 (1980); see also United States v. Ismoila, 100 F.3d 380, 391 27 We express no opinion as to whether a showing of prejudice resulting from untimely notice of an intent to offer foreign records could eliminate § 3505 as a potential pathway for admissibility of foreign business records. 28 Garcia Abrego also argues that the records were inadmissible because some of them were incomplete. He argues that this fact calls into question the integrity and validity of the records, particularly in light of the fact that some of the missing records were available in connection with the previous trial but were unavailable in connection with this one. Garcia Abrego’s claim again lacks merit. He does not argue that the incompleteness of the records was likely to confuse the jury, nor that the incompleteness of the records rendered them irrelevant. The district court could properly conclude that the incompleteness of any of the records went to their evidentiary weight rather than their admissibility. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the records on the ground that they were incomplete. 82 (5th Cir. 1996), cert. denied sub nom., 117 S. Ct. 1712 (1997), and cert. denied sub. nom, 117 S. Ct. 1858 (1997); Sherman v. Scott, 62 F.3d 136, 140 (5th Cir. 1995).29 “Evidence is considered reliable if it falls within a firmly rooted hearsay exception or is otherwise supported by a showing of particularized guarantees of trustworthiness.” Ismoila, 100 F.3d at 391-92. “[E]vidence possessing ‘particularized guarantees of trustworthiness’ must be at least as reliable as evidence admitted under a firmly rooted hearsay exception . . .[and] must similarly be so trustworthy that adversarial testing would add little to its reliability.” Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 821 (1990); see also Sherman, 62 F.3d at 140. We believe that foreign records admissible under § 3505 satisfy these criteria. The legislative history of § 3505 indicates that Congress adopted the statute in part based upon its view that foreign business records accompanied by the certification required by the statute possess an “inherent trustworthiness.” H.R. REP. NO. 98- 29 In Roberts, the Supreme Court stated, “when a hearsay declarant is not present for cross-examination at trial, the Confrontation Clause normally requires a showing that he is unavailable. Even then, his statement is admissible only if it bears adequate ‘indicia of reliability.’” Roberts, 448 U.S. at 66. In White v. Illinois, 502 U.S. 346 (1992), the Court clarified that “Roberts stands for the proposition that unavailability analysis is a necessary part of the Confrontation Clause inquiry only when the challenged out-of-court statements were made in the course of a judicial proceeding.” Id. at 354; see also Ismoila, 100 F.3d at 391; Sherman, 62 F.3d at 140. Because the foreign bank records at issue here do not constitute “statements . . . made in the course of a judicial proceeding,” their admissibility does not hinge upon the presence of the makers of the records to testify at Garcia Abrego’s trial or a showing of their unavailability. 83 907, at 2 (1984), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3578, 3580. Furthermore, the House Report discussing § 3505 indicates that the language in subsection (a) establishing the required contents of the foreign certification “is derived from Rule 803(6) of the Federal Rules of Evidence,” which establishes the business records exception to Rule 802's general exclusion of hearsay, and should therefore “be interpreted in the same manner as the comparable language in Rule 803(6) is interpreted.” Id. at 5, reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3578, 3581. “The business records exception is a firmly rooted hearsay exception.” Ismoila, 100 F.3d at 392. Thus, to the extent that § 3505 largely mirrors the business records exception, we are confident that records admissible under the statute are “at least as reliable as evidence admitted under a firmly rooted hearsay exception.” Wright, 497 U.S. at 821. Our conclusion is bolstered by the fact that the statute requires district courts to exclude records otherwise satisfying its requirements if “the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.” 18 U.S.C. § 3505(a)(1). In concluding that admission of records under § 3505 does not violate a defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause, we join a number of other circuits that have addressed the issue. In United States v. Miller, 830 F.2d 1073, 1078 (9th Cir. 1987), the Ninth Circuit rejected a Confrontation Clause challenge to the admission of foreign bank records under § 3505. In doing so, the court expressed the following rationale: 84 Banks depend on keeping accurate records and although, as we all know, they err occasionally, their records are among the most common type of business record routinely used in our courts. The novelty of the statute is to admit the records without confrontation by the defendant with the recordkeepers. No motive is suggested that would lead bank officials to change, distort, or manipulate the records at issue here. The recordkeepers have, under criminal penalties in their own countries, asserted that the records are records kept in the course of business. Examination of the recordkeepers by counsel for [the defendant] could not reasonably be expected to establish anything more or less than that. If the records were in fact inaccurate, it was within [the defendant’s] power to depose the recordkeepers and challenge the records. . . . As applied in [the defendant’s] case to admit foreign bank records kept in the course of business, section 3505 is constitutional. Id. at 1077-78. Other circuits have reached similar conclusions, and we now do the same. See United States v. Ross, 33 F.3d 1507, 1517 (11th Cir. 1994) (holding that admission of foreign records pursuant to § 3505 did not violate the defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause); United States v. Sturman, 951 F.2d 1466, 1490 (6th Cir. 1991) (same). The district court’s admission of foreign bank records pursuant to § 3505 did not violate Garcia Abrego’s rights under the Confrontation Clause.