United States v. James Donald Yarbrough

In a jury trial Yarbrough was found guilty of having transported a stolen motor vehicle in interstate commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 2312 . In his appeal from the judgment of conviction, Yarbrough contends that the receiving into evidence of the Government’s exhibit number 4 constituted prejudicial error. The exhibit was a new car invoice issued by the Ford Motor Company in connection with the original purchase of the automobile in question. The exhibit was identified by the Government’s witness Henderson, Secretary-Treasurer of Mort Hall Ford, of Houston, Texas, and the custodian of his company’s records. He testified that exhibit number 4 came into his possession when the automobile was delivered to his company, that it had been date stamped upon its receipt by his company, and that it had been retained in the regular course of his company’s business. The document was thereupon received into evidence over Yarbrough’s objection that no adequate foundation for its admissibility had been established. In receiving the evidence the court relied upon the Federal Business Records Act. 28 U.S.C. § 1732 . Inasmuch as the invoice in question was a hearsay document not prepared by the company to…