Opinion ID: 2996038
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Patrick’s Grand Jury Testimony

Text: Next, we review the district court’s decision to admit Patrick’s grand jury testimony under Rule 801(d)(1)(A) for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Williams, 737 F.2d 594, 608 (7th Cir. 1984). Rule 801(d)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that a statement is not hearsay if the declarant testifies at trial, is subject to crossexamination concerning the statement, and the statement is “inconsistent with the declarant’s [trial] testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition.” FED. R. EVID. 801(d)(1)(A). Young does not dispute that Patrick testified at his trial, nor that she was subject to cross-examination by defense counsel. It is equally obvious that Patrick’s trial testimony was inconsistent with her grand jury testimony. Indeed, Patrick recanted her allegations of abuse against Young while on the witness stand at his trial; what is commonly referred to as a turncoat witness. See United States v. DiCaro, 772 F.2d 1314, 1322 (7th Cir. 1985). Finally, the grand jury testimony satisfies the requirement that the prior inconsistent statement be given under oath. Id. Young’s primary argument, however, is that the district court improperly limited his cross-examination of Patrick by prohibiting him from impeaching her grand jury testimony with hearsay statements she made the day after she testified before the grand jury. He also submits that the 16 No. 02-1294 district court abused its discretion in admitting Patrick’s grand jury testimony under Rule 801(d)(1)(A) because it violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment and was unfairly prejudicial under Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. None of these arguments prevail. First, Young agrees that Patrick was subject to crossexamination at his trial and that cross-examination surely took place. His complaint is that the district court improperly limited this cross-examination because it prevented him from impeaching the government’s impeachment of Patrick by eliciting statements she made to a defense investigator the day after her grand jury testimony. Apparently, Patrick told Young’s investigator that the trip to Indiana was “no kidnaping.” The statement, however, did not impeach any of Patrick’s grand jury testimony because Patrick did not actually tell the grand jury that she had been “kidnaped.” We find no abuse of discretion in the district court’s ruling. Young had a right to cross-examine Patrick within the rules of evidence, which he fully exercised. Young’s proposed impeachment of Patrick’s grand jury testimony sought to elicit a legal conclusion from Patrick about whether Young’s conduct amounted to the kidnaping charged in count 1. See United States v. Hach, 162 F.3d 937, 945 (7th Cir. 1998) (noting that answers in the form of a legal conclusion amount to unhelpful opinion testimony). In the event, Young’s attorney brought the sought-after statement into evidence through the investigator. Finally, Young was not convicted of kidnaping under count 1, so that any possible error was harmless. Young’s Confrontation Clause and Rule 403 arguments are likewise without merit. It is well-settled law that “the Confrontation Clause is not violated by admitting a declarant’s out-of-court statements, as long as the declarNo. 02-1294 17 ant is testifying as a witness and subject to full and effective cross-examination.” California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 158 (1970); DiCaro, 772 F.2d at 1326; Mason v. Duckworth, 74 F.3d 815, 819 n.3 (7th Cir. 1989). Finally, Young relies on United States v. Doerr, 886 F.2d 944 (7th Cir. 1989), to assert his Rule 403 argument that admission of Patrick’s grand jury testimony is unfairly prejudicial. Young argues that the testimony does not contain a long, narrative answer from Patrick and is simply her responses to leading questions from the government that were not subject to cross-examination. He believes this pattern presents a problem because Patrick has limited education and recanted much of that testimony. While Doerr does list several factors the court should bear in mind when considering the trustworthiness of out-of-court statements, the case is concerned with hearsay statements being offered into evidence under the catch-all hearsay exception in Rule 807. Id. at 955-56. As we stated above, Patrick’s grand jury testimony was not hearsay under Rule 801(d)(1)(A), and therefore, Doerr is inapplicable here.