Court Opinion

ID: 9669145
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:40:51.522101+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:52.983613
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. I respectfully disagree with the Court’s holding that the testimony by Gary Creed was not hearsay. The majority has chosen to read A.R.E. 801(c) narrowly so as to allow the statement as “corroboration” testimony. I believe the testimony was offered to prove that Pres.cott had actually made an offer of “fast money” to the appellant. The significance of the statement hinges on whether Prescott did in fact make such a proposition to the appellant, not simply whether Prescott had made a statement. Therefore, the testimony was plainly an attempt to prove the truth of the matter asserted; otherwise, the testimony would not be relevant to the defense of entrapment. Further, I believe the trial judge properly refused to order the state to disclose whether Prescott was the confidential informant. The state still has an interest in protecting the precise relationship between the government and an individual even after the identity of the informant may have been discovered. United States v. Sharp, 778 F.2d 1182 (6th Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1030. See also, United States v. Paoli, 603 F.2d 1029 (2nd Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 926. In short, the appellant failed to adequately demonstrate at trial that disclosure of the identity of the informant was essential to his defense. In this context there was no abuse of discretion by the trial court and the judgment should be affirmed.