United States v. Pheaster
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
544 F.2d 353 (9th Cir. 1976)
Larry Adell, a teenager who was later kidnapped and never seen again, told two friends the night of his disappearance that he planned to meet a man named Angelo in a parking lot to pick up marijuana; one friend testified she had previously accompanied Adell to a different meeting with the same "Angelo," whom she identified as Hugh Pheaster's co-defendant Inciso. The district court admitted Adell's statements to his friends over objection, and after the jury convicted Inciso and Pheaster (defendants) on all counts, Inciso appealed, challenging the hearsay statements' admission.
Whether, when a hearsay declarant makes a statement of intention to do something with another person, the trier of fact may infer from the declarant's state of mind the probability of a particular act by that other person as well as by the declarant himself.