Opinion ID: 2587611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The improper admission of hearsay evidence

Text: Weber contends that the district court improperly admitted hearsay testimony during trial. He objects to the following testimony by Robin Thornton, relating what Kim told Thornton on the day of Kim's murder. She had told me that a boy had called for [M.]; that T.J. had answered it and went crazy, cussed out the kid on the phone; proceeded to call M. names and call her a slut and racial gestures, to her going out with black guys. And M. told Kim. Kim was mad. She told T.J.: [M.] is going to be able to talk to boys and go out with boys. You are not her boyfriend; you're my boyfriend. You need to start acting like a father figure, if you're in her life, and not her boyfriend.... And she was going to drive her and her boyfriend to wherever they wanted to go on a date, the movies or  Before this testimony was admitted, Weber objected citing the multiple layers of hearsay contained in the statement. The State maintained: It's our position they are not hearsay; we are not offering those statements for the truth of the matter. We are offering them specifically to show an effect on the hearer, the defendant. We are not offering those statements to prove that Kim was, in fact, going to allow M. to date; that she was, in fact going to facilitate the dating process. It is important ... to show the defendant's mental state, to show how the defendant reacted to M. entering the dating process. So these statements are offered to show the effect they had on the defendant. The district court agreed and ruled that Thornton's testimony was not hearsay because it was not being offered for the truth of the matter asserted. The court then instructed the jury that Thornton's testimony could only be used to show the effect of Kim's statements on Weber. We conclude that Thornton's testimony contained inadmissible hearsay and should not have been admitted, but that the error does not warrant reversal. Generally, hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. [18] Hearsay is inadmissible unless it falls within one of several exceptions. [19] Hearsay included within hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the combined statements conforms to an exception.... [20] Hearsay evidence is traditionally excluded because it is not subject to the usual tests to show the credibility of the declarant. Lacking is cross-examination to ascertain a declarant's perception, memory and truthfulness. [21] The State and the district court's position  that Thornton's testimony simply related statements by Kim to Weber that were not offered for the truth of the matter asserted but only to show their effect upon Weber  fails to take into account the multiple levels of hearsay contained in that testimony. Thornton did not testify simply about a statement that Kim made directly to her. She testified also about earlier statements that, according to Kim, Kim made to Weber; Weber made to Kim, M., and M.'s friend; and M. made to Kim and Weber. Thornton herself had not been present for or heard any of these earlier statements. The district court's ruling failed to recognize that Thornton's testimony contained statements by three declarants  Weber, M., and Kim  involving as many as three levels of hearsay. The statements by each declarant require independent analysis to determine whether Thornton's testimony was properly admitted in whole or part. The alleged statements furthest removed from Thornton's direct knowledge were Weber's initial remarks on the telephone to M.'s friend and his and M.'s remarks in the ensuing argument. Weber's remarks are statements by a party opponent, which are excepted from the hearsay rule. [22] The State argues on this basis that Thornton's reference to his remarks was proper, but the State disregards the three levels of hearsay present. The exception applies to the first level of hearsay, testimony by the direct percipient of the statements, in this case, M. But this exception does not extend to the successive layers of hearsay in Thornton's testimony. [23] Neither Kim nor Thornton heard Weber's remarks, so absent a basis for Kim to relate M.'s statement and a basis for Thornton to relate Kim's statement, the State could not introduce evidence of Weber's remarks by way of Thornton. The State has not proffered any such bases. No prejudice resulted, however, because evidence of Weber's remarks was properly introduced through M.'s testimony, which was subject to cross-examination by Weber. Thornton also never heard the statements made by M.; she learned of them through Kim. Therefore, there must be a hearsay exception that applies to Kim's recounting to Thornton of M.'s remarks and another exception that applies to Thornton's testimony about that recounting. On appeal, the State argues that it was not concerned with the truth of M.'s statements, only their effect on Kim. The State also argues that M.'s statements were admissible as excited utterances. Even assuming this is so, it is only a basis for Kim, not Thornton, to testify about the remarks. Again, however, no prejudice is discernible because M. testified, subject to cross-examination, that she told her mother about her dispute with Weber and that as a consequence Kim confronted Weber and the two quarreled. Finally, we consider Kim's own statements, apart from any references to M.'s and Weber's remarks. But there are still two levels of hearsay to Kim's own statements because in speaking to Thornton she also related earlier statements she allegedly made to Weber  such as, she was going to drive M. and her boyfriend on dates. Thornton did not hear those earlier statements directly, so a hearsay exception is necessary for Kim to relate them to Thornton and another is necessary for Thornton to testify about them. As noted above, the State maintains and the district court agreed that these statements by Kim to Weber were not being offered for the truth of the matter asserted but only to show the effect of the statements upon Weber. It is true that the hearsay rule does not exclude a statement merely offered to show that the statement was made and the listener was affected by the statement. [24] But this exception applies only to Kim's statements to Weber, not to her later statement to Thornton. That is, under this exception, Kim could have testified about her own out-of-court statements to Weber to help the State prove that he heard and reacted to the statements, not to prove the truth of the matter asserted, e.g., that Kim truly intended to drive M. on dates. But Kim's statements to Thornton about what Kim told Weber were being offered for the truth of the matter asserted, that is, Kim actually made earlier statements to Weber. In order for the jurors to evaluate the effect of Kim's statements upon Weber, the jurors had to accept as true that Kim had made those statements. Thornton could not testify  and be cross-examined  on that crucial matter because she had no direct knowledge of it. Kim's statement that she talked to Weber is inadmissible hearsay. But we conclude that any prejudice resulting from its admission was minimal because the same evidence was introduced through M.'s testimony. Although M. did not testify to the specific statements Kim made to Weber, she was able to testify that Kim confronted Weber and quarreled with him about his treatment of M. Thornton's testimony also had a single level of hearsay in regard to Kim's statements that did not involve references to earlier statements by Weber, M., or Kim herself. It appears that Kim told Thornton directly that she was mad about Weber's dealings with M. and that she intended to drive M. on dates. We conclude that these statements reflected Kim's state of mind just before her murder and were relevant to the State's theory of why Weber murdered Kim. They were therefore admissible under NRS 51.105(1), which provides: A statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation or physical condition, such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health, is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule. In sum, the testimony by Thornton at issue comprised largely inadmissible hearsay evidence. [25] When testimony has been improperly admitted in violation of the hearsay rule, we must determine whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt: [26] Evidence against the defendant must be substantial enough to convict him in an otherwise fair trial, and it must be said without reservation that the verdict would have been the same in the absence of error. [27] We conclude without reservation that even if Thornton's hearsay testimony had been excluded the verdict here would have been the same. First, most of the evidence provided by Thornton was also provided to the jury by M.'s testimony. Second, M.'s remaining testimony, the images of M. found on Weber's computer, the forensic evidence recovered from the house, and the testimony of C. and Froman constitute overwhelming independent evidence of Weber's guilt. Therefore, even without Thornton's hearsay testimony, the jury would have had ample evidence to convict Weber and to show that on April 3 and 4, 2002, Weber believed that his ongoing sexual abuse of M. was threatened and supporting the inference that this belief motivated his subsequent crimes.