F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
PUBLISH
March 2, 2007
UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AM ERICA,,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
No. 05-4246
v.
JESU S SA LV A D O R ZEPED A -
LOPEZ,
Defendant - Appellant.
A PPE AL FR OM T HE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR T HE DISTRICT OF UTAH
(D .C . No. 1:03-CR-00062-TC)
Submitted on the briefs: *
Edwin Stanton W all, Salt Lake City, Utah, for D efendant-Appellant.
Stephen J. Sorenson, Acting United States Attorney and Elizabethanne C.
Stevens, Assistant United States Attorney, District of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah,
for Plaintiff-Appellee.
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(g).
The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Before KELLY, A LA R C ÓN , ** and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
A LA RC ÓN, Circuit Judge.
Jesus Salvador Zepeda-Lopez appeals from his conviction of conspiracy to
distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine in violations of 21 U.S.C. §
846. The only issue before us in this appeal is whether the District Court abused
its discretion in admitting evidence that connected M r. Zepeda-Lopez to the
conspiracy. The Government and M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s defense counsel stipulated
in the presence of the jury that Dean Ramirez, Genaro Galaz-Felix, Carlos Galaz-
Felix, Julio Cesar Lopez, Israel Gomez-Astorga, Norma Garcia, Jose Vasquez,
Ruben Sanchez, and other individuals w ere members of a conspiracy to distribute
methamphetamine between January 8, 2003 and April 27, 2003.
During his opening statement, M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s counsel stated: “[T]he
decision that you’re going to have to focus on is whether or not Jesus Salvador
Zepeda-Lopez, also known as Cacho, agreed, did knowingly intentionally
conspire, confederate and agreed with these other folks, or at least one of them, to
participate in this conspiracy. That’s the focus of this case. That’s the decision
that you will be needing [sic] to make.”
W e affirm because we conclude that the District Court did not err in
**
The Honorable Arthur L. Alarcón, Senior Circuit Judge, United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting by designation.
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determining that, as a matter of law , the audio and video tapes containing M r.
Zepeda-Lopez’s voice and image were admissible under Rule 901(a) of the
Federal Rules of Evidence. W e also agree with the District Court that Federal
Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John Barrett’s (“Agent Barrett”) lay
opinion that M r. Zepeda-Lopez was the person whose voice was on the audio tape
and his image was depicted on the video tape was admissible as part of the
Government’s case-in-chief under Rule 701 of the Federal Rules of Evidence to
help the jury in determining whether the prosecution met its burden of proving
beyond a reasonable doubt that M r. Zepeda-Lopez was guilty of being a member
of the conspiracy.
I
Agent John Barrett was the only prosecution witness called by the
prosecution. Because the parties stipulated to the existence of a conspiracy to
distribute 500 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, his testimony was
offered to prove that M r. Zepeda-Lopez knowingly participated in it.
Agent Barrett testified that the Government wiretapped telephone
conversations between M r. Zepeda-Lopez, Dean Ramirez, and Jose Aparicio. The
District Court admitted the audio tapes of six telephone calls over objection. The
taped conversations were in Spanish. Agent Barrett listened to a majority of the
conversations in the wiretap monitoring room. He identified M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s
voice by using a “baseline call.” Agent Barrett explained that a baseline
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telephone call is one in which one of the parties to the call is identified by name.
During one of the telephone conversations, the caller identified himself as
“Cacho.” M r. Zepeda-Lopez admitted during his testimony at trial that he was
known as “Cacho.” He also admitted that his voice was on three of the taped
telephone calls, including the baseline call. As to the remaining three telephone
audio tapes, M r. Zepeda-Lopez denied that his voice was on one of them. He did
not deny that his voice was on another audio tape. He was not questioned
whether his voice was on the remaining audio tape.
Agent Barrett testified that once there was a baseline call, subsequent calls
were compared to identify the voices. Agent Barrett stated, “I have limited
knowledge of Spanish, and I’m not a native speaker. I do not speak Spanish.”
Agent Barrett further testified, however, that
[i]t does not matter what the language is. If you hear the
same w ord, no matter what language, you’re going to pick
up on that specific w ord and you’re going to be able to
tell how differently it’s said by different people. So I
really don’t think that the language is necessary to know
that, no.
Agent Barrett also testified that he heard M r. Zepeda-Lopez speak in court three
days before the trial began.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s attorney objected to the admission of the audio tapes
and Agent Barrett’s testimony that it was his opinion that M r. Zepeda-Lopez w as a
party to the taped telephone calls. The District Court overruled the objection.
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Instead, it gave the jury the following cautionary instruction:
Special agent Barrett will tell you whom he believes the
various speakers are. But you’re going to be listening to
the tapes and see if one voice is the same on the other.
It’s entirely up to you to decide whether you agree with
him or not, okay? That’s your decision.
Part of the Government’s evidence, submitted to establish that M r. Zepeda-
Lopez knowingly agreed to participate in committing the offense, involved three
events. A telephone call recorded on April 10, 2003, contained a colloquy where
an individual stated, “Uh... Don’t forget the poor people. Uh... I need some lemon
popsicles.” A second individual replied, “Alright.” A gent Barrett testified that M r.
Zepeda-Lopez and Dean Ramirez participated in this phone call. Agent Barrett
identified M r. Zepeda-Lopez as the first speaker, and testified that the term “lemon
popsicles” refers to “some type of illegal drug.”
In a telephone call taped on April 13, 2003, the parties discussed what to do
with the “work” that was located at M r. Ramirez’s auto body shop:
W hat do we do with that work? W hat do we do? I’ll do
that for you. But what do we do? Or what’s going on?
This guy is very agitated. He’s very...
...
W here’s the work?
Huh?
The work.
It’s there.
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The errand.
It’s in the Shadow . 1
Look.
Huh.
Back in there.
Yeah.
Back in there, near the tires...
Yeah.
M ake a hole there.
Yeah.
You know, those things for the w ater.
Uh...
...
Look, look, there . . . look. Back behind the shop...
Yeah.
Look. There...there...where...where the boxes for the
switches are... for the lights.
Yeah. Here in the shop?
Yes. Uh... You know how I have some wide tires over
there, at one of the back walls?
1
The underlining in the transcript indicates that the word was spoken in
English.
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Yeah. Yeah.
Up there, there is one of those...of water, right?
Yeah. There’s a...a...a... rubber kit, yeah. For the w ater.
Yeah.
Okay. Put...put the work in there and then...and then...put
it in, where I told you.
In the tires or... or in the... or in the w ater?
In the w ater.
But there are too many!
They’ll fit in there.
It won’t fit, my friend. There are... there are... there are
like ten (10) or eleven (11) packages.
Then, make...make a well there.
But it’s day time.
It doesn’t matter. There’s no one there, Cacho.
But there’s people back there.
M hm. Alright. I’ll go over. I’ll see what we do.
Alright.
Agent Barrett identified M r. Zepeda-Lopez as the first speaker and M r. Ramirez as
the second. Agent Barrett testified that the term “work,” as used in this
conversation, referred to illegal drugs.
The Government introduced a video tape that was recorded on the same day
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as the A pril 13, 2003 telephone call by a pole camera positioned outside of M r.
Ramirez’s auto body shop. It shows an individual extracting a toolbox out of the
trunk of a Dodge Shadow. Agent Barrett testified that the individual depicted in
the video tape retrieving the toolbox was M r. Zepeda-Lopez. The toolbox held the
ten to eleven packages of methamphetamine. Later, the video tape shows the
toolbox being picked up by Norma G arcia and Santos Ramirez, Dean Ramirez’s
son.
Agent Barrett identified M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s image on the video tape. The
Dodge Shadow is depicted on the video tape as it arrived at the shop. Agent
Barrett identified the driver as Carlos Armando Galaz-Felix, and the passenger as
M r. Zepeda-Lopez. During cross-examination, M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s attorney asked
Agent Barrett, “[t]his shows Cacho and Topo arriving, correct?” Agent Barrett
responded, “It does.” During his opening statement, M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s attorney
admitted that the person wearing a striped shirt depicted on the video tape was M r.
Zepeda-Lopez.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s defense counsel was permitted to conduct a voir dire
examination of A gent Barrett to determine w hether any law enforcement officers
conducted a visual surveillance of the shop at the time in question. Agent Barrett
responded that no officer conducted a visual surveillance.
During direct examination, the prosecutor asked Agent Barrett if there were
any features which he used to identify the individual on the videotape as M r.
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Zepeda-Lopez. He replied: “Yes. Dark pants, dark shoes, dark, short hair. It
appears from the -- as the video actually runs. Once again, fair skin. Except for
the change in the shirt, I’d say it was the defendant.” Defense counsel requested
permission to conduct an additional voir dire examination. The D istrict Court
denied the request. It stated: “W ell, I think that -- no. But what I’m going to tell
the jury is that ultimately is [sic] your decision whether it is or is not.”
M r. Zepeda-Lopez testified in his defense. He denied that he was a knowing
participant in the drug conspiracy. He testified that prior to M arch 2003, he
worked in M exico and “fixed up houses[.]” M r. Zepeda-Lopez stated that he met
M r. Ramirez in Tijuana, M exico.
A. I met him on the streets. There’s a street where there
are many workers asking for work, and that’s how I met
him.
...
Q. And then did he ask you to come work at his house in
Utah?
A. Yes. Yes. I met him approximately a year before.
He testified that he originally went to M r. Ramirez’s home in M arch 2003
because he “was putting the finishing touches in Dean Ramirez’s house and Norma
Garcia’s house . . . I’m talking about the molding, the finishing touches. I took
care of the molding, the sheet rock and there is this paste that I use for sheet rock.”
During the time he w as in Utah, M r. Zepeda-Lopez lived in a trailer behind M r.
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Ramirez’s auto body shop.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez admitted during his testimony that he was known as
“Cacho.” He also admitted that his voice was on three of the taped telephone calls,
including the baseline call.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez testified that in the April 13, 2003 telephone conversation,
he believed that M r. Ramirez was referring to tools, and not “something illegal.”
He testified as follow s:
Q. W hen you were talking to him about these -- about
putting something back there, he makes a reference, as
we’ve seen, to packages.
A. Yes, about some tools, packages.
Q. W ell, now, you make the statement that there are 10
to 11 packages, correct?
A. Yes, counsel.
Q. W hy did you make that statement?
A. W ell, because I think that on that day I think that I
was working at his house -- in his house.
...
Q. And with regard to this discussion, when he started
talking to you about moving this tool box, why did you
tell him that you couldn’t dig this hole?
A. W ell, in the first place the box was big and had a
lock. And I told him that they didn’t fit. But I never
knew the amount of the packages. I told him just like
that because out of curiosity.
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M r. Zepeda-Lopez further testified that he suspected M r. Ramirez was involved in
something illegal and that M r. Ramirez “tricked” him. He explained his suspicions
as follow s:
Q. Did you have a concern about what was in the tool
box?
A. M entally I had some calculations. I thought, “W ell,
put away, kneel down, hide.” I thought that it was
something illegal. I didn’t know exactly what kind of
illegal stuff it was. He just tricked me. I thought there
were --there was a package of tools in there.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez testified that after he was stopped for a traffic violation
and arrested in Utah, that he “suspected or [] believed that there was something
wrong with [M r. Ramirez], but I never knew anything.” W hen asked if he told M r.
Ramirez and M s. Garcia that he wanted to leave, he responded “Yes.”
The jury found M r. Zepeda-Lopez guilty of conspiracy to distribute 500
grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. He has
timely appealed from the judgment.
II
M r. Zepeda-Lopez challenges the admission of the audio and the video tapes
on the ground that Agent Barrett’s identification of M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s voice and
appearance was not supported by evidence that satisfies the requirements of Rule
901(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. He also contends that the D istrict Court
violated Rule 701 of the Federal Rules of Evidence in permitting Agent Barrett to
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give his opinion as a lay witness because he lacked personal knowledge of M r.
Zepeda-Lopez’s voice and appearance. He further contends that the jury was in as
good a position as A gent Barrett to identify M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s voice on the audio
tape and his image on the video tape.
“A district court has broad discretion to determine the admissibility of
evidence, and we review the district court’s ruling for abuse of discretion[.]”
United States v. Leonard, 439 F.3d 648, 650 (10th Cir. 2006) (internal citations
omitted). “Pursuant to the abuse of discretion standard, we will not reverse the
district court without a definite and firm conviction that the lower court made a
clear error of judgment or exceeded the bounds of permissible choice in the
circumstances.” United States v. Griffin, 389 F.3d 1100, 1103 (10th Cir. 2004)
(internal quotation marks omitted). “A lthough the abuse of discretion standard is
deferential, abuse is shown where the decision was made based upon a mistaken
view of the law.” United States v. Allen, 449 F.3d 1121, 1125 (10th Cir. 2006).
A
Rule 901(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that “[t]he
requirement of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to
admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter
in question is what its proponent claims.” “The admissibility of a taped
conversation rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge.” United States v.
Buzzard, 540 F.2d 1383, 1386 (10th Cir. 1976). Rule 104(a) of the Federal Rules
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of Evidence provides that “[p]reliminary questions concerning . . . the admissibility
of evidence shall be determined by the court[.]” The hearings on the admissibility
of the audio and video tapes w ere conducted in the presence of the jury. Rule
104(c) provides that hearings that do not involve admissibility of a confession shall
be conducted outside the presence of the jury “when the interests of justice require,
or when an accused is a witness and so requests.” M r. Zepeda-Lopez did not
request that the hearings on admissibility of the tapes or Agent Barrett’s lay
opinion be conducted out of the presence of the jury.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez contends that Agent Barrett’s identification of the voice
on the audio tapes is inadmissible under Rule 901(a) “[b]ecause [Agent Barrett]
does not speak Spanish [] [and, therefore,] was unable to make any language based
comparisons, such as the correct use of language, use of idioms, or inflection.”
Brief of Defendant-Appellant at 13. He also argues that Agent Barrett’s testimony
was inadmissible because the tapes were never submitted to the FBI for voice print
identification. M r. Zepeda-Lopez has failed to cite any authority that supports
these asserted foundational deficiencies.
This Court has held that a single telephone call, combined with hearing a
voice in court, is sufficient for voice identification testimony to go to the jury.
United States v. Axselle, 604 F.2d 1330, 1338 (10th Cir. 1979). “Such voice
identification need only rise to the level of minimal familiarity.” United States v.
Bush, 405 F.3d 909, 919 (10th Cir. 2005). W hile it is true that M r. Zepeda-Lopez
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spoke in Spanish, Agent Barrett identified M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s voice on a total of
six recordings admitted into evidence, including a call in which M r. Zepeda-Lopez
identified himself by his nickname “Cacho.” This self-identification created a
baseline call to which Agent Barrett could compare subsequent recordings. Agent
Barrett also testified that he heard M r. Zepeda-Lopez speak in court a few days
before trial began. This perception confirmed his identification of his voice on the
telephone recordings. M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s arguments go to the weight, not the
admissibility of the voice identification. See Axselle, 604 F.2d at 1338 (holding
that the defendant’s arguments that a witness’s voice identification testimony was
deficient because the witness was not an expert in voice identification, the
defendant’s voice held no peculiar characteristics, and the w itness had only heard
the defendant’s voice one time outside of the telephone conversation, go to the
weight of the evidence).
The District Court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that the admission of
the audio tapes was supported by sufficient evidence to satisfy the foundational
requirements of Rule 901(a).
B
M r. Zepeda-Lopez also maintains that the District Court abused its discretion
in instructing the jury that it could consider A gent Barrett’s testimony in
determining whether M r. Zepeda-Lopez was a knowing participant in the
conspiracy. He argues that Agent Barrett’s identification of M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s
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voice and image was inadmissible under Rule 701 and Rule 901(a) of the Federal
Rules of Evidence because the officer “lacked personal knowledge and had an
inadequate basis to claim it was voice [sic] of M r. Zepeda-Lopez in the calls or that
he appeared in the video.” Brief of Defendant-Appellant at 13.
The Government contends that we must apply the plain error standard of
review because M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s trial counsel did not object to the
identification of the defendant on the video tape at trial. M r. Zepeda-Lopez asserts
that he “raised the issue on appeal by timely oral objection to the . . . identification
based upon a video, (Tr. p. 61).” Brief of Defendant-Appellant at 10.
During the playing of the video, the prosecutor asked Agent Barrett whether
he knew who had access to M r. Ramirez’s shop. Page 61 of the trial transcript
reveals that M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s counsel objected to the question and requested the
opportunity to conduct a voir dire examination. The District Court granted the
request to conduct a voir dire examination.
In an apparent attempt to demonstrate that Agent Barrett was not present to
observe the events and persons depicted in the video tape, M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s
counsel asked Agent Barrett whether he or any other officer personally conducted
“a surveillance of who came in or came out of the shop . . .[.]” Agent Barrett
replied: “A t this point in time, no, sir.” A gent Barrett also testified that the pole
camera was capable of taking pictures of persons going in or out of the shop when
it was dark with ambient light.
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W hen the defense counsel completed his voir dire examination, he stated:
“That’s all I have.” The Court replied: “A ll right.” The District Court did not rule
on the pending objection. Agent Barrett proceeded to identify the persons depicted
on the video tape.
At a later point in the proceedings, M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s attorney again tried
to persuade the trial court, through a voir dire examination, that the video tape and
Agent Barrett’s testimony that M r. Zepeda-Lopez was depicted on it was
inadmissible under Rule 701 and Rule 901(a), because Agent Barrett did not
personally conduct a surveillance of the street in front of the auto shop while the
pole camera was photographing that area.
The record reflects the follow ing proceedings:
Q. (BY M R. KENNEDY) From the images that we just
saw the last couple of seconds around time index 1720:46,
are you able to discern any features that would help you
identify that individual?
A. Yes. Dark prints, dark shoes, short hair. It appears
from the -- as the video actually runs. Once again, fair
skin. Except for the change in the shirt, I’d say it was the
defendant.
M r. W all: Your honor, may I voir dire?
The Court: W ell, I think that – no. But what I’m going to
tell the jury is that ultimately [it] is your decision whether
it is or is not.
M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s counsel did not expressly object to the admission of the
video tape. The trial court’s denial of the defense’s request to conduct a voir dire
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examination deprived counsel of the opportunity to attempt to present evidence to
support an objection to the identification of M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s image.
Ordinarily, we will not consider whether a trial court abused its discretion in
admitting evidence if the appellant failed to interpose a contemporaneous objection.
There are basic reasons for the rule. U nless a party is
required to timely object before the trial court, the trial
judge and opposing counsel are deprived of any
opportunity to take corrective action, if such be required,
in order to assure an orderly, fair and proper trial. Further
an aggrieved party must present his objection with clarity
and specificity to the trial court in order to avoid
unnecessary error from occurring. In sum, a party may
not sit idly by at trial watching error being comm itted,
and complain for the first time on appeal.
United States v. M itchell, 783 F.2d 971, 976 (10th Cir. 1986) (quoting United
States v. Hubbard, 603, F.2d 137, 142 (10th Cir. 1979)).
M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s counsel did not sit idly by at trial without alerting the
trial court that admitting the video tape and Agent Barrett’s identification of the
defendant was error. The trial court was made fully aw are of M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s
theory that an identification cannot be made from viewing a monitor showing
photographs taken by a motion picture camera, and a video tape thereof, if the
officer did not personally observe the individual as he or she was being
photographed. W hile the District Court did not expressly rule on the admissibility
of Agent Barrett’s lay opinion, it did so implicitly by instructing the jury that it
could consider the weight of his testimony in determining whether M r. Zepeda-
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Lopez was a member of the conspiracy.
Under the circumstances reflected in this record, we hold that M r. Zepeda-
Lopez’s counsel substantially complied with the requirement that an issue must be
preserved in the trial court in order to seek review of it on appeal. The record
shows that he objected to the admission of the video tape, but the trial court failed
to rule on it. He was denied the opportunity to attempt to demonstrate by means of
a voir dire examination that the evidence was inadmissible. W e also conclude,
however, that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Agent
Barrett’s identification of the image on the video tape of M r. Zepeda-Lopez. His
identification was corroborated by the fact that he observed the defendant in court
before his testimony. Cf. Axselle, 604 F.2d at 1338 (concluding that a single
telephone call, combined with hearing a voice in court, is sufficient for voice
identification testimony to go to the jury).
C
M r. Zepeda-Lopez further maintains that the District Court abused its
discretion in admitting Agent Barrett’s lay opinion testimony that M r. Zepeda-
Lopez’s voice is on the audio tape and that his image appears in the video tape. H e
argues that the officer’s opinion testimony invaded the province of the jury and was
inadmissible under Rule 701(b) because “the jury was in as good a position as
Officer Barrett to identify whether M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s voice was that recorded in
the telephone conversations as well as whether it was M r. Zepeda-Lopez appearing
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in the pole camera video.” Brief of Defendant-Appellant at 13-14. To be
admissible under Rule 701(b), a witness’s testimony in the form of an opinion must
be “helpful to a clear understanding of the witness’ testimony or the determination
of a fact in issue . . . .” Fed. R. Evid. 701(b).
This Court rejected a similar challenge under Rule 701(b) in Bush. 405 F.3d
at 917-18. In Bush, a law enforcement officer testified during the G overnment’s
case-in-chief that the defendant’s voice was on recorded telephone conversations.
Id. at 912-15. This Court rejected the appellant’s contention that the officer’s lay
opinion failed the helpfulness test because the jury heard audio recordings of the
taped conversations. Id. at 917. In Bush, the record showed that the officer had
conducted face-to-face conversations with the defendant on at least three occasions.
Id. at 918. At the time of the officer’s testimony, the jury had not heard the
defendant’s voice.
Because the defendant did not take the stand in Bush, the jury did not have
the opportunity to compare his voice with the one in the audio recording. In this
matter, Agent Barrett’s opinion testimony was offered during the G overnment’s
case-in-chief to meet its burden of persuading the jury beyond a reasonable doubt
of M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s complicity in the conspiracy. The prosecution and the trial
court were not informed that M r. Zepeda-Lopez would testify until after the
Government rested and the defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal under Rule
29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure was denied.
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W hile the jury was able to see M r. Zepeda-Lopez in court throughout the
trial and during his testimony, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in
admitting Agent Barrett’s opinion testimony that M r. Zepeda-Lopez was the person
depicted on the video tape. Agent Barrett testified that he had looked at the video
“many times” in forming his opinion that M r. Zepeda-Lopez’s image appeared on
it. The record reflects that during a voir dire examination, defense counsel asked
Agent Barrett if he had “looked at this video many times[.]” A gent Barrett
responded, “Yes[.]” The jury did not have the same opportunity to do so. Thus,
Agent Barrett’s testimony was helpful to it in deciding whether M r. Zepeda-Lopez
appeared on the portion of the video tape played before the jury.
The District Court correctly admonished the jury that it must determine the
weight it should give Agent Barrett’s testimony. It instructed the jury as follows:
Now, I have said that you must consider all of the
evidence. This does not mean, how ever, that you must
accept all of the evidence as true or accurate.
I have already indicated that you are the sole judges
of the credibility or “believability” of each witness and
the weight to be given to their testimony. In weighing the
testimony of the witnesses you should consider their
relationship to the government or the defendant; their
interest, if any, in the outcome of the case; their manner
of testifying; their opportunity to observe or acquire
knowledge concerning the facts about which they
testified; their candor, fairness and intelligence; and the
extent to which they have been supported or contradicted
by other credible evidence. You may, in short, accept or
reject the testimony of any witness in whole or in part.
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The D istrict Court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Agent Barrett’s
lay opinion testimony.
A FFIR ME D.
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