United States v. J. Randall Ismay

MEMORANDUM

Defendant J. Randall Ismay appeals his conviction for the transportation of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(l), (b)(1), and contends that the district court abused its discretion when it admitted online statements as non-hearsay admissions of a party-opponent. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

Ismay asserts that the government proffered no direct evidence connecting him to the online statements, and therefore, that these statements were not properly admitted as his.

A party’s statement is not hearsay when it is used against him; rather, it is an admission, a species of non-hearsay. Fed. R.Evid. 801(d)(2). As the proponent of the online statements, the government needed to come forward with evidence sufficient to support a finding that Ismay was the de-clarant. Fed.R.Evid. 104(b); Fed.R.Evid. 901(a) advisory committee’s note. That it did. See United States v. Gil, 58 F.3d 1414, 1419 (9th Cir.1995).

Substantial circumstantial and direct evidence connects the statements in the challenged exhibits to Ismay. His user account on his computer was password-protected. Ismay’s name matches the screen name RandalLIsmay and…