United States v. Foster

711 F.2d 871 (1982)

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United States v. Foster

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
711 F.2d 871 (1982)

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Facts

Gregory Foster, Johnnie Gibson, Billy Jackson, and Ronald Wilson were charged with crimes based on their involvement in a heroin-trafficking conspiracy. At trial, the United States (plaintiff) sought to introduce into evidence a cooperating witness’s business ledger, which contained records of drug transactions between her and Gibson. The witness testified that she recorded most of her large drug transactions and that her regular practice was to write in the ledger how many balloons of heroin went out on a given day and how much money she received. The witness recorded the transactions at or near the time they occurred. The ledger did not contain a record of every heroin transaction, and some of the transactions were recorded out of order. In addition, the ledger contained some blank pages and unrelated entries. However, information in the ledger implicated Gibson in the drug-trafficking conspiracy. The court admitted the ledger into evidence under the business-records exception to the hearsay rule set forth in Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6). Gibson and others were convicted, and they appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. One of Gibson’s arguments on appeal was that the trial court improperly admitted the ledger into evidence.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Alarcon, J.)

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