United States v. Brown
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
299 F.3d 1252 (1999)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Jacqueline Panseta Brown (defendant) was searched at an airport on the way to Bermuda and authorities found cocaine base in her luggage. She claimed that she had no knowledge of the cocaine. At trial, the prosecution sought to prove that someone with no knowledge of her possession of the cocaine would not have been trusted by its owners to take cocaine that valuable on a plane. To do this, the prosecution sought to introduce the testimony of a DEA agent qualified as an expert in drug valuation who stated that the cocaine had a value of $217,000 in Bermuda. The DEA agent stated that he would not have known the exact value of the cocaine in Bermuda without information he obtained from another DEA agent who had asked Bermudan authorities to come up with a value. The trial court admitted the testimony of the expert witness and convicted Brown. Brown appealed on the grounds that the testimony was hearsay.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kravitch, J.)
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