United States v. Peoples

250 F.3d 630 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Lightfoot was arrested and charged with the robbery of a federally insured credit union. The arrest was based on information supplied by Jovan Ross, who shared a house with Lightfoot. FBI agents executed a search warrant for the Ross-Lightfoot house and recovered items taken from the Omaha credit union. Lightfoot was held at a private pretrial detention facility operated by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA facility), where he remained at all times. Lightfoot learned of Ross's cooperation with law enforcement. Ross was murdered. P contends that Ds entered into a contract to pay unknown persons to kill Ross because Ross was an informant. Ross had no substantial information implicating Peoples but P argued that Peoples believed that his involvement would be discovered if Ross continued to cooperate with law enforcement. P argued that Peoples and others had robbed a jewelry store to obtain funds to pay the killers. P offered recordings of conversations between Ds that occurred while Lightfoot was incarcerated at the CCA facility. FBI Special Agent Joan Neal testified in connection with the recorded telephone and visitation conversations between Ds. Neal gave her opinion regarding the meaning of words and phrases used by the defendants during those conversations. She did not personally observe the events and activities nor did she hear or observe the conversations as they occurred. Her testimony included her opinions about what the Ds were thinking during the conversations, phrased as contentions supporting her conclusion, repeated throughout her testimony, that Ds were responsible for Ross's murder. Neal asserted that Peoples went to Ross's house to murder Ross, that he had paid 'the killers to do the job,' that Peoples' various comments about being in need of money revolved around his debt to hit men, and that both Ds had sought confirmation of Ross's death. Neal stated that she had uncovered hidden meanings such as buying a plane ticket for Ross, meant killing Ross. The recordings were played for the jury. Neal narrated them as they were played. Ds objected to the admission of this testimony. P claimed they were admissible under Rule 701. The court ruled that her contentions were being admitted as 'snippets of early argument from the witness stand' and not as evidence. Ds were convicted and appealed.