Opinion ID: 2570573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Vincent Altamura's conversation with unidentified caller

Text: Leonard argues that the district court erred by failing to exclude hearsay testimony about the conversation that Vincent Altamura had with an unidentified caller. Leonard claims that the conversation was not properly authenticated. Leonard also asserts that the error implicated his right of confrontation. The evidence at issue concerns the telephone call that Altamura received after he paged the victim. Altamura indicated that the caller sounded like a young male. The caller informed Altamura that Altamura had called Greg's pager, not the victim's, and that Greg was too fucked up to come to the phone. The court instructed the jury not to consider the testimony as evidence of who had possession of the pager, but only as evidence of whether the victim was alive at the time. Leonard persuasively argues that the same purpose might have been served if Altamura had simply testified that someone other than the victim had responded to the page. However, we recognize that the district court has some discretion in admitting evidence pursuant to NRS 47.110. NRS 47.110 permits the trial court to admit evidence that is admissible for one purpose but inadmissible for another if, upon request, the judge instructs the jury accordingly. Moreover, any error is harmless. Even if the conversation should have been excluded, it did little more than reaffirm that Leonard had the victim's pager on Sunday, January 22, a fact supported by other credible evidence.