Question

The defendant, a home builder, was charged with conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders in the subprime housing market. At trial, a cooperating co-defendant testified for the prosecution about loan documents that contained misrepresentations used to obtain financing for unqualified homebuyers. The loan documents were largely made and kept by the title company and the co-defendant admitted he had no personal knowledge of how the documents were made or kept. During his testimony, the co-defendant repeatedly referenced a chart that summarized the loan documents. The prosecutor moved to admit the chart as a summary to prove content. The defendant objected, arguing that the loan documents were inadmissible hearsay and that any summary was therefore inadmissible. How should the court rule on the motion?

Answer 1

The court may admit the summary chart as evidence if the underlying loan documents are available for the defense to examine and if the chart accurately represents those documents without prejudice, despite the hearsay objection. The right to confront and cross-examine witnesses does not necessarily apply to admissible summaries of voluminous records.

Step-by-step explanation:

The court should rule on the motion to admit the chart as a summary of the loan documents by carefully considering the rules of evidence regarding hearsay and the admissibility of summaries as evidence. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of the accused to confront and cross-examine witnesses against them, which typically rules out hearsay evidence unless it falls under certain exceptions. The co-defendant's lack of personal knowledge about how the loan documents were made or kept could be problematic for the prosecution's case, as it goes against the principle that testimony should only be given about matters that the witness has direct knowledge of, thus allowing for effective cross-examination.

However, there are rules that allow for summaries of voluminous records to be admitted into evidence, providing the underlying documents are available for examination by the opposing party. These rules are designed to streamline the presentation of complex evidence and not to violate the hearsay rule. As such, if the underlying loan documents can be scrutinized by the defense, and if the court is satisfied that the chart is an accurate and non-prejudicial representation of those documents, the chart may be admissible as a summary exhibit.

Therefore, the objection raised by the defense that the loan documents, and by extension the summary chart, are inadmissible hearsay might not be upheld if the prosecution can demonstrate that the chart meets the standard criteria for summary evidence and that the defense has had a fair opportunity to examine the underlying documents.