US v. Pheaster case brief

1. US v. Pheaster (9th Cir 1979)
1. Larry tells girlfriend and another friend that he intends to go to parking lot to get a free pound of marijuana from Angelo; L doesn’t comes back, is never found; A is charged in fed ct, and prosecutor wants to introduce L’s statement
• hearsay if offered to prove that A told L to meet him; admissible to show L’s intent (state of mind) – but can L’s intent place A in the parking lot?
2. holding: evidence is admissible – policy reasons in favor of allowing it
• sometimes it’s really necessary – e.g., here, where victim is dead
• L is acting on his memory – declarant actually did something in reliance on the fact remembered (that A told him to meet him); could argue that there’s greater reliability here, since the memory was acted upon
3. note: division in the cts, and within Congress.
• everyone agrees that declarant’s statement that he intended to go to Philly can be admitted as proof that he went to Philly; but split over whether the statement that X wants to do something with Y meant that Y wanted to do that something with X as well.