Out of Court Statement In Furtherance of a Conspiracy In Texas

An out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted is not hearsay if it is offered against a party and is a statement by a co-conspirator made during the course of, and in furtherance of, the conspiracy. TEX. R. EVID. 801(e)(2)(E). Statements that are made in furtherance of a conspiracy include those made: (1) with intent to induce another to deal with co-conspirators or in any other way to cooperate with or assist co-conspirators; (2) with intent to induce another to join the conspiracy; (3) in formulating future strategies of concealment to benefit the conspiracy; (4) with intent to induce continued involvement in the conspiracy; (5) for the purpose of identifying the role of one conspirator to another. Fairow v. State, 920 S.W.2d 357, 362 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 1996), aff'd, 943 S.W.2d 895 (Tex. Cr. App. 1997). Conversely, statements that are not in furtherance of a conspiracy, and thus remain hearsay, include those that are: (1) casual admissions of culpability to someone the declarant had individually decided to trust; (2) mere narrative descriptions; (3) mere conversations between conspirators; (4) "puffing" or "boasts" by co-conspirators. Id.