USA v. Santiago Salcedo

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 23-12676
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
SANTIAGO SALCEDO,
Defendant-Appellant.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 1:14-cr-20286-CMA-16
____________________
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2 Opinion of the Court 23-12676
Before JILL PRYOR , BRANCH, and BLACK , Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Santiago Salcedo appeals the revocation of his supervised re-
lease based on the district court’s determination that he violated
the conditions of his supervised release by committing the offense
of simple battery. He asserts his due process rights were violated
by the admission of an identifying text message containing hearsay
into evidence at his revocation hearing. The text message was be-
tween the victim, M.M., and her 16-year-old daughter, neither of
whom testified at the hearing. The text message was admitted
through the testimony of M.M.’s mother, Reyna Morales. After
review,1 we affirm the district court.
A defendant’s supervised release may be revoked if the dis-
trict court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that “the de-
fendant violated a condition of supervised release.” 18 U.S.C.
§ 3583(e)(3). The preponderance of the evidence standard “simply
requires the trier of fact to believe that the existence of a fact is
more probable than its nonexistence.” United States v. Trainor, 376
F.3d 1325, 1331 (11th Cir. 2004) (quotation marks omitted).
1 “We review a district court’s evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion.”
United States v. Eckhardt, 466 F.3d 938, 946 (11th Cir. 2006). A district court’s
conclusion that a defendant violated the terms of his supervised release is re-
viewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Copeland, 20 F.3d 412, 413 (11th
Cir. 1994). We review questions of constitutional law de novo. United States v.
Whatley, 719 F.3d 1206, 1213 (11th Cir. 2013).
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23-12676 Opinion of the Court 3
Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, hearsay is an out-of-
court statement offered “to prove the truth of the matter asserted
in the statement.” Fed. R. Evid. 801(c). The Federal Rules of Evi-
dence generally prohibit hearsay. Fed. R. Evid. 802. “Although the
Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply in supervised release revo-
cation hearings, the admissibility of hearsay is not automatic.”
United States v. Frazier, 26 F.3d 110, 114 (11th Cir. 1994). A defend-
ant is entitled to minimal due process requirements, including “the
right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses.” Id. In de-
ciding whether to admit hearsay, the district “court must balance
the defendant’s right to confront adverse witnesses against the
grounds asserted by the government for denying confrontation.”
Id. The district court must also determine that the statement is
reliable. Id. The district court’s failure to make such findings vio-
lates a defendant’s right to due process. Id. Nonetheless, a district
court’s failure to make findings pursuant to the balancing or relia-
bility tests is reviewed for harmless error. Id.
The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting
the text message because it conducted a Frazier analysis and implic-
itly found the text message to be reliable. Particularly, the court
balanced Salcedo’s right to confront adverse witnesses against the
Government’s argument that it did not wish to bring the 16-year-
old who received the text messages into court and that many do-
mestic violence victims such as M.M. do not wish to testify. See
Frazier, 26 F.3d at 114. After Salcedo objected to the introduction
of the text messages between M.M. and her daughter, the court
questioned the Government about the reliability of the text
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4 Opinion of the Court 23-12676
messages, particularly by asking clarifying questions to the Govern-
ment’s witness Morales. The court’s dialogue between the parties
and Government’s witness, as well as its decision to permit Salcedo
to conduct voir dire of the witness before it decided to overrule the
objection, show that it conducted a Frazier analysis and determined
the evidence was reliable.
Further, the court’s Frazier analysis was proper because it
conducted a dialogue with the Government and Morales to learn
more information about the origin of the text message and why the
sender and the receiver were not testifying. It acknowledged that
many domestic violence victims, such as M.M., do not wish to tes-
tify and learned through Salcedo that M.M. would testify to the op-
posite of the message. It further learned the Government did not
want to have M.M.’s 16-year-old daughter testify. Additionally, the
court found the text message to be reliable because Morales testi-
fied (1) about how she obtained the message, (2) that Salcedo was
known as “Chino,” (3) about the messages that she personally re-
ceived from M.M. regarding the assault, (4) about what the mes-
sages led Morales to do, and (5) about her knowledge of M.M. and
Salcedo’s past relationship. Further, the events of May, 23, 2023—
when police officers located M.M. with Salcedo and found M.M. in
a physical condition consistent with the text messages—further
corroborated the text message.
The court did not abuse its discretion or violate Salcedo’s
due process rights in admitting the text message identifying
Salcedo. The court did not abuse its discretion in finding Salcedo
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23-12676 Opinion of the Court 5
violated his supervised release by committing the offense of simple
battery. Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.
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