Opinion
CASE NO. 1:17-CR-151
11-27-2019
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MOHAMED IBRAHIM AHMED
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Pending before the court are the Government's Motion in Limine (#116), wherein the Government seeks the admission of certain entries from the Federal Register which contain the State Department's designation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ("ISIS") as a foreign terrorist organization, and Request for Judicial Notice (#115), wherein the Government requests that the court take judicial notice that ISIS is a designated foreign terrorist organization. The court ordered (#125) that Defendant Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed's ("Ahmed") response to these motions was due November 26, 2019. Ahmed failed to file a timely response.
Notwithstanding Ahmed's failure to file a response, entries in the Federal Register are self-authenticating, public records exempted from the rule against hearsay. See FED. R. EVID. 803(8); 901(b)(7); Tomlin v. Beto, 377 F.2d 276, 277 (5th Cir. 1967) ("Official records are a well recognized exception to the hearsay rule."). Further, federal law mandates that "[t]he contents of the Federal Register shall be judicially noticed . . . ." 44 U.S.C. § 1507 (emphasis added). Accordingly, the Government's Motion in Limine (#116) and Request for Judicial Notice (#115) are granted.
SIGNED at Beaumont, Texas, this 27th day of November, 2019.
/s/_________
MARCIA A. CRONE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE