Evidence 2020 Dying Declarations Notes PDF

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Evidence 2020

2) Dying Declarations - 804(b)(2) a) In prosecution for homicide or in a civil case, a statement that declarant, while believe declarant’s death to be imminent, made about its cause or circumstances 3) Examples a) Shepard v. US i) FACTS: (1)Shepard (defendant) was charged with murdering his wife. In proving the charge, the prosecution sought to introduce into evidence a statement by Shepard’s wife to her nurse stating that her husband had poisoned her (2)The district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit admitted the evidence based on the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule. Shepard appealed ii)HOLDING: (1)NOT ADMISSIBLE (a)Issue of timing – she lingered on for 3 weeks (i) Wife got sick May 20th (ii)Makes statement on May 22nd (iii)Thinks she is getting better on June 2nd (iv)Dies on June 15th (b)Statement to nurses week before death ; “you will get me better” (2)NOT ADMISSIBLE because no evidence of: (a)(1) settled, hopeless expectation of death (b)(2) death must be near (c)(3) must be spoken in the hush of its impending existence (the person’s last breath)

(3)V knows she has been poisoned and that she may die but she does not herself believe that death is imminent

4) Forfeiture by Wrongdoing - 804(b)(6) a) (6) Statement offered against a party that wrongfully caused – or acquiesced in wrongfully causing – the declarant’s unavailability as a witness, and did so intending that result 5) US v. Gray a) FACTS: i) Josephine Gray (defendant) was accused of killing both her husbands and her accomplice in the killing of her second husband, Clarence Goode ii)Gray was indicted on charges of mail and wire fraud relating to her receipt of insurance proceeds on their deaths iii)At trial, the district court admitted several out-of-court statements by Robert Gray, Gray’s second husband, concerning threats that Gray had made against him and Gray and Goode’s previous assaults on him iv)The evidence included Robert Gray’s criminal complaint against Gray for assaulting him v)The district court admitted these statements pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6), which provides an exception to the hearsay rule when defendant’s own misconduct renders the declarant unavailable as a witness for trial. Gray was convicted and sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment vi)Gray appealed b) HOLDING: i) D kept taking insurance out and suddenly those people ended up dead ii)Court held forfeiture by wrongdoing. D’s husband’s statements came in because she had killed him...