United States v. Miguel Felix-Jerez

In this case the facts are not in dispute and are generally as follows. Miguel FelixJerez (defendant) had been convicted in another proceeding of having entered the United States illegally and was sentenced to ninety days in prison and three years probation for that offense. He was serving his sentence as an inmate of the Federal Prison Camp at Stafford, Arizona, when the events giving rise to the instant case occurred. The record shows that the defendant was arrested and indicted for escaping from the prison camp in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751 , and was convicted by a jury and given a prison sentence of four years to be served concurrently with the sentence he was then serving. This appeal in forma pauperis followed. The defendant is presently incarcerated. Because of the error of the court in admitting a hearsay statement into evidence over the timely objection of defendant, we reverse.

The prison camp at Stafford is a minimum security prison with no fences or enclosures and no armed guards. The prisoners are free to walk about the premises of the prison. While it was against the rules of the prison for the prisoners to leave the prison grounds without permission, the…

dissenting:

Because I feel that the majority’s construction of FRE 801(d)(2) as applied to the admitted facts in this case is completely wrong, I am obliged to file this dissent. The statements read into evidence by Hardeman were not hearsay, and, therefore, were properly admitted:

I.

The Rule under consideration provides, among other things:

The majority emphasizes that since the appellant never read or signed the document prepared by the adverse witness Hardeman, the statements contained therein could not be the appellant’s “own statement” within the meaning of FRE 801(d)(2)(A). Consequently, the majority concludes that the statements were hearsay and should not have been admitted into evidence. This approach completely ignores the fact that the appellant has never questioned the voluntariness of the interview or the accuracy of the translation. Deputy Hardeman swore that the statements read from the document accurately reflected the statements of the appellant as translated by Officer Tolavera. Tolavera testified that he had no trouble understanding the appellant’s Spanish, and that he translated truly and accurately. Appellant does not question the integrity of either…

667 F.2d 1297 9 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1452 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Miguel FELIX-JEREZ, Defendant-Appellant. No. 81-1121. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Aug. 10, 1981. Decided Feb. 16, 1982. Bernardo Velasco, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Tucson, Ariz., argued, for defendant-appellant; Frank R. Zapata, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Tucson, Ariz., on brief. Jon R. Cooper, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tucson, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Before SKELTON * and KILKENNY, Senior Judges, and REINHARDT, Circuit Judge. SKELTON, Senior Judge: 1 In this case the facts are not in dispute and are generally as follows. Miguel Felix-Jerez (defendant) had been convicted in another proceeding of having entered the United States illegally and was sentenced to ninety days in prison and three years probation for that offense. He was serving his sentence as an inmate of the Federal Prison Camp at Stafford, Arizona, when the events giving rise to the instant case occurred. The record shows that the defendant was arrested and indicted for escaping from the prison camp in…