United States v. Shanki Walker , 60 F. App'x 637 ( 2003 )


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  •                     United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 02-2356
    ___________
    United States of America,               *
    *
    Appellee,                   *
    *
    v.                                * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the Western
    Shanki N. Blackwell Walker,             * District of Arkansas.
    also known as Dorothy N.                *
    Blackwell Walker,                       * [Unpublished]
    *
    Appellant.                  *
    ___________
    Submitted: January 17, 2003
    Filed: March 21, 2003
    ___________
    Before MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, BRIGHT, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Shanki Walker appeals from her conviction for using the facilities of interstate
    commerce to solicit murder in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 1958
    . We affirm.
    Ms. Walker first challenges testimony relating the contents of a lost letter that
    she wrote expressing a hatred of one of her intended victims. The trial court1 found
    that a proper predicate for the admission of the testimony had been laid, see
    Fed. R. Evid. 1004(1), because the letter itself had been destroyed and the letter's
    proponent did not destroy it in bad faith. The record before the district court amply
    supported the admission of the testimony, and it is well settled that the contents of a
    lost writing may be proved by " 'any kind of secondary evidence ranging from
    photographs and handwritten copies to oral testimony of a witness.' " United States
    v. Gerhart, 
    538 F.2d 807
    , 809 & n.2 (8th Cir. 1976) (quoting 5 J. Weinstein, Evidence
    ¶ 1004[01], at 1004-4 to 1004-5 (1975) [quotation located at p. 1004-8 in 2003
    edition]). The statements in the letter were of course themselves admissible as
    statements of a party opponent. See Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2).
    Ms. Walker also asserts that the district court erred in admitting audio tapes of
    her conversations with a witness who testified that she had solicited him to kill two
    people. She maintains, inter alia, that there was no showing that the recording
    devices were capable of replicating the conversations offered into evidence or that the
    operator of the recorder was capable of operating it. See United States v. McMillan,
    
    508 F.2d 101
    , 104 (8th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 
    421 U.S. 916
     (1975). Our
    examination of the record leads us to reject those objections. Ms. Walker complains,
    too, about the electronic enhancement to which the tapes were subjected, but an FBI
    expert testified that the enhancement in no way altered the substance of what the tape
    contained; it merely made its comprehension easier. The judge and jury were free to
    believe this testimony, and they evidently did.
    We have considered Ms. Walker's other assignments of error and find them to
    be meritless.
    1
    The Honorable Harry E. Barnes, United States District Judge for the Western
    District of Arkansas.
    -2-
    We therefore affirm the judgment of conviction.
    A true copy.
    Attest:
    CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
    -3-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 02-2356

Citation Numbers: 60 F. App'x 637

Filed Date: 3/21/2003

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 1/12/2023