United States v. Mack
United States District Court, District of Connecticut
2016 WL 4373695 (2016)
Tyquan Lucien, unaware his jailed cellmate was wired, said "Big Mack. He want CJ gone," implicating Dominque Mack (defendant) in the planned murder of Charles Jernigan; Lucien was later charged alongside Mack, pleaded guilty, and cooperated at Mack's trial, testifying Mack had personally committed one murder and planned Jernigan's. Mack argued Lucien fabricated his testimony out of hatred and to secure a lighter sentence given he faced life in prison, and separately impeached him with inconsistent statements he had earlier made to investigators denying he even knew Mack; the prosecution countered by playing the earlier jailhouse recording, made before Lucien was charged, pleaded guilty, or began cooperating.
Whether, under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B), a witness's prior out-of-court statement is hearsay when the witness is subject to cross-examination about it, the statement is consistent with the witness's trial testimony, and it is offered to rebut a claim of recent fabrication or improper motive, or to rehabilitate credibility attacked on other grounds.