U.S. v. Vasquez

In prosecution on drug conspiracy charge, Dist. Ct. erred in admitting for truth of matter asserted audiotapes of conversations between defendant and his wife in which wife told defendant that defendant's lawyer had advised that defendant should plead guilty to charged offense, even though said tapes were admissible as prior inconsistent statement to wife's testimony that defendant was innocently at scene of crime at time of arrest. However, any error was harmless given evidence of defendant's flight at scene of arrest, his cell phone logs demonstrating defendant's participation in details leading up to attempted drug purchase, as well as $23,000 found in secret compartment of wife's car. (Dissent filed.)