United States v. Mornan
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
413 F.3d 372 (3d Cir. 2005)
Christopher Mornan (defendant), charged with fraud connected to a telemarketing scheme, faced testimony from former check-cashing employee Althea Burton, who at her deposition described Mornan frequently cashing checks made out to insurance companies; at trial, she claimed she could not remember either her employment or the deposition, attributing this to memory loss from a car accident, though the prosecution presented evidence the accident was minor, that she received no hospitalization or memory-loss treatment, and that her cousin (the employer's owner) had also been indicted in the scheme. The district court found her claimed memory loss was not genuine and admitted her deposition statement as a prior inconsistent statement under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A); Mornan was convicted and appealed, arguing the statement was not truly inconsistent with her trial testimony.
Whether a witness's prior inconsistent statement may be admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A) if the witness claims that she does not remember the statement but does not genuinely have a memory loss.