Court Opinion

ID: 9472184
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:52:14.491965+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:47.573136
License: Public Domain

CORNELIA G. KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because I would find that the hearsay evidence on which the Parole Commission relied is reasonably reliable, I would affirm the District Court. The majority would apparently have been satisfied with the reliability of the hearsay evidence had the Commission had the Richmond City Police Department investigative reports. I suggest that a trained probation officer’s summaries of those reports are equally reliable.
I recognize that
with every increased level of hearsay there is a corresponding decrease in reliability. Every level of hearsay provides another possibility that the facts were inaccurately reported by the declarant, either intentionally or unintentionally, or misunderstood by the person to whom the statement was made.
Comments, “Hearsay Under the Proposed Federal Rules: A Discretionary Approach,” 15 Wayne L.Rev. 1077, 1231 (1969). However, in the instant case there is very little likelihood that any of these possibilities occurred.
The probation officer is a trained professional who spends a significant portion of his or her time preparing presentence reports in which the officer summarizes all kinds of data including that relating to prior criminal involvement of an accused. Trial judges rely on those summaries every day in imposing sentence. Probation officers are fully aware of the important use to which their reports are put. They are trained to be accurate. The information summarized by probation officer Hall is *1157straightforward and uncomplicated. That Hall misunderstood what was in the investigative files is extremely unlikely. That he intentionally misreported what he read is not even suggested.
The number of steps of hearsay does not necessarily make a statement unreliable. A statement, such as a military command, may be repeated through several command levels and yet maintain its original form. That is because persons at each step are aware of the importance of accuracy. It is the circumstance under which each repetition of hearsay is made which determines its reliability.
The letter before the Parole Commission contains a considerable amount of corroborating detail concerning the circumstances leading to the forgery and theft charges against Taylor. Allowing the Commission to rely on a detailed summary would not likely lead to findings of criminal conduct based solely on evidence that an arrest had occurred, as suggested by the majority.
Accordingly, because the probation officer’s summary was entitled to be accepted as a reliable summary of the reports I would find the Parole Commission had reasonably reliable evidence on which to base its action. Petitioner had the opportunity to respond to the accusation that he had forged a check, deposited it in a bank, and drawn on the account created by the forged check. Petitioner does not appear to have claimed that the probation officers incorrectly summarized the investigative files but rather that the check situation was a problem having to do with his construction and remodeling business. While I agree that it would be preferable for the Parole Commission to have the actual investigative files of the Richmond Police Department, such files are ordinarily not available without a subpoena.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.