Lewis

MEMORANDUM **

*769 David Gene Lewis, who shot a prison inmate while on duty as a correctional officer at Pelican Bay State Prison, appeals his jury conviction for deprivation of rights under color of law in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242 , and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924 . Lewis contends that the district court committed reversible error in excluding the Shooting Review Board (“SRB”) Report, which concluded Lewis acted in a manner consistent with relevant policy of the California Department of Corrections. We agree and reverse the conviction.

I

We review de novo whether the district court correctly applied Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(C) in excluding the SRB Report. 1 We conclude that it did not. Under Rule 803(8)(C), the district court should have admitted the SRB Report. “[F]actually based conclusions or opinions are not on that account excluded from the scope of Rule 803(8)(C).” 2 Public records tendered at trial are presumed accurate and trustworthy, and the burden rests upon the opponent of such evidence to prove otherwise. 3 The district court should have presumed the SRB Report trustworthy and shifted the burden of…