United States v. Larry Recio, 884 F.3d 230

On May 15, 2015 officers observed Larry Recio with a handgun protruding from his waistband; Recio fled and allegedly tossed the gun; officers later recovered a loaded handgun where it was thrown. Recio was arrested the next month and indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The Government sought to admit a January 28, 2016 Facebook post (eight months after the incident) allegedly from Recio stating: “It’s Always Tucked, Kuz I’ll B Damn If My Life Get Took!!” — a close rendering of a rap lyric from the song “Get it in Blood.”
The district court admitted the post over Recio’s objection under Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2) (admissions/adoptive admissions) after finding it sufficiently authenticated and relevant and not unduly prejudicial or Rule 404(b) other-acts evidence.
The jury initially reported being deadlocked after several hours of deliberation; the court denied Recio’s motion for a mistrial and gave a modified Allen charge telling jurors to take the evening and resume deliberations refreshed.
The next day the jury resumed, asked to view the gun and related items, and returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Recio appealed, challenging admission of the Facebook post and the refusal to grant a mistrial/ the Allen charge.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of Facebook post as non-hearsay (801(d)(2))	Government: post is an adoptive or direct admission by Recio and thus not hearsay.	Recio: post is not his statement (could be quote), so hearsay.	Court: Jury could infer adoption from absence of attribution/quotation and slight editorializing; admissible under 801(d)(2).
Relevance and Rule 403 prejudice	Government: lyric is directly relevant to possession and motive (carrying for protection); minimal risk of unfair prejudice.	Recio: lyrics are character/other-acts evidence or unduly prejudicial; irrelevant to charged act.	Court: lyric made charged conduct and motive more probable, probative value not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice.
Authentication under Rule 901	Government: offered Facebook records custodian certification and account links to Recio (name, email, photos, birthday post).	Recio: account access could be by others; insufficient proof he authored the post.	Court: authentication burden low; evidence allowed jury to reasonably find Recio authored the post.
Mistrial / Allen charge	Recio: jury’s deadlock note required mistrial; Allen charge coerced jurors.	Government: early deadlock after few hours does not compel mistrial; instruction was benign.	Court: denial of mistrial and modified Allen instruction were within discretion and not coercive; no abuse of discretion.

Gen. Elec. Co. v. Joiner, [citation="522 U.S. 136"] (standard of review for evidentiary rulings)
United States v. Hassan, [citation="742 F.3d 104"] (authentication of Facebook evidence by records custodian and account linkage)
United States v. Robinson, [citation="275 F.3d 371"] (foundational facts for adoptive admissions)
United States v. Cornell, [citation="780 F.3d 616"] (limits on coercive Allen charges)
United States v. Hylton, [citation="349 F.3d 781"] (review of Allen charge content and coercion concerns)
United States v. Hall, [citation="858 F.3d 254"] (harmless-error inquiry for evidentiary mistakes)