Opinion ID: 797792
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Love's Statement

Text: 12 At Love's plea hearing, the government asserted that Loggins acted as a getaway driver during the robbery of the IFCU. Love disagreed and his attorney contended that Loggins was present at the robbery of the IFCU but didn't know what was about to happen. Only the district court questioned Love about his plea and his involvement in both robberies. 13 Loggins moved to admit the statement of Love's attorney as a statement against interest under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3), as former testimony under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1), and as exculpatory evidence under Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973). The district court denied the motion, finding that the statement was unclear and that Love cannot testify as to what Loggins did or didn't know with respect to either of these robberies. Additionally, the court found there was no showing that the statement was against the penal interest of the speaker, that it was trustworthy, or that there were corroborating circumstances. We review a district court's evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Bonty, 383 F.3d 575, 579 (7th Cir.2004).
14 To introduce a hearsay statement under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3), the proponent must establish that (1) the declarant is unavailable as a witness, (2) the statement was against the declarant's penal interest when made, and (3) corroborating circumstances clearly suggest that the statement is trustworthy. Bonty, 383 F.3d at 579. The district court found that Loggins could not meet the second and third prongs of the test; we agree. 15 Love's attorney's statement did not implicate him nor could it subject him to criminal liability. See Bonty, 383 F.3d at 575 (holding that a statement that defendant had nothing to do with the criminal events did not tend to implicate the declarant and was not against the declarant's penal interest). Nor does a statement by an attorney as to his client's belief about another person's state of mind clearly suggest that the statement is trustworthy.
16 Loggins next asserts that Love's attorney's statement is former testimony. Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) provides that, as an exception to the hearsay rule, former testimony of an unavailable witness is admissible if it is 17 [t]estimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same or a different proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom the testimony is now offered, or, in a civil action or proceeding, a predecessor in interest, had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination. Fed.R.Evid. 801(b)(1). 18 The district court found that the statement by Love's attorney did not qualify under this hearsay exception because the government did not have the opportunity to cross-examine. We agree. 19 Loggins also challenges the exclusion of the testimony based on her Sixth Amendment right to present a defense. The Supreme Court has held the rigid application of state evidentiary rules unconstitutional when such an application infringes upon the right to present witnesses in one's own defense, particularly when that testimony is critical to the defense's theory of the case. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 302-03, 93 S.Ct. 1038. However, the right to confront and to cross-examine witnesses is not absolute and may, in appropriate cases, bow to accommodate other legitimate interests in the criminal trial process. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 295, 93 S.Ct. 1038. 20 In Chambers, the defendant sought to introduce the out-of-court statements of a man, Gable McDonald, who declared that it was he, and not the defendant, who had committed the murder at issue. McDonald made a sworn confession and also admitted to the murder in private conversations with several of his friends but later repudiated his statements. As a result, the trial court prevented the defense from calling McDonald as an adverse witness and refused to allow the testimony of three witnesses to whom McDonald admitted committing the murder, ruling those statements to be hearsay. The Supreme Court ruled that under the facts and circumstances of that particular case, the mechanistic application of state evidentiary rules, which prevented the defense from introducing evidence regarding McDonald's confession, violated the defendant's due process rights. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 302-03, 93 S.Ct. 1038; Horton v. Litscher, 427 F.3d 498, 506 n. 13 (7th Cir.2005). The Supreme Court found that the witnesses' hearsay testimony was critical to the defendant's defense and noted that the statements were made under circumstances that provided considerable assurance of their reliability because there were multiple admissions by another individual that he was the actual killer. Id. at 300, 93 S.Ct. 1038. 21 Here, the evidence lacks this exculpatory significance and the reliability necessary to support a Sixth Amendment violation. The fact that Loggins was present at the robbery is undisputed. That she didn't know what was about to happen has little exculpatory significance. Although it could corroborate Loggins's trial testimony that she did not initially know about the robbery, nevertheless, as she admits, she knew of the robbery when her co-defendants came running from the credit union to her car. We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding Love's statement.