Opinion ID: 2204482
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statements made by Mrs. Chaplin at the hospital.

Text: When the State in the presentation of its case reached the point at which it was ready to produce evidence of dying declarations of Mrs. Chaplin, the Court very properly excused the jury and heard testimony bearing on admissibility. We take this occasion to commend the practice of holding such a preliminary hearing in the absence of the jury as the most effective means of avoiding the possibility of a mistrial which might otherwise result. Only one Maine case furnishes any guidance with respect to the admission of dying declarations and the respective roles of the presiding Justice and the jury. State v. Bordeleau (1920) 118 Me. 424, 426, 428, 108 A. 464, furnishes some assistance but leaves unanswered as many questions as it answers. In Bordeleau our Court stated some of the basic principles in these terms: Counsel accept the general principle that the solemnity of the situation of a person under the conviction that he is about to die, with all hope of recovery gone, supplies a circumstantial guaranty that his statements are in accordance with the truth, notwithstanding they are not sanctioned by oath, and that cross-examination is impossible. `As this guaranty consists in the subjective effect of the approach of death,' to use the language of Mr. Wigmore, (2 Wigmore on Ev. § 1439) [3] it must appear to the presiding justice that at the time of making the statements the deceased must be conscious of the certainty of approaching speedy death; if any hope of recovery remains, the declarations are inadmissible; nor is it sufficient that the deceased has only the belief that he may ultimately die of his injuries. To quote from a case on respondent's brief: `The person making the declaration shall have a complete conviction that death is at hand.    Death, shortly to ensue, must be an absolute certainty, so far as the consciousness of the person making the declaration is concerned.'    But the actual period of survival after making the declaration is immaterial. It is the consciousness of almost immediate dissolution, and not the rapid succession of death in point of fact, that renders the testimony admissible. These propositions are supported by the authorities:   . This consciousness of impending death, this phase of mind, may be established by any relevant evidence. The range of competent evidence is wide. It may include evidence of the physical condition of the declarant at the time of making the statement, from which the inference may be legitimately drawn that the declarant had a conscious sense of impending death, as well as evidence of the declarant's conduct and declarations. After reviewing the evidence and holding the declarations properly admitted, the Bordeleau Court continued: The declarations as given by the witnesses fully meet the requirements of completeness; they are free from all indication of malice or desire for revenge.    After the evidence is admitted, its credibility is entirely within the province of the jury, who should have the opportunity to weigh all the circumstances under which the declarations were made, including those already proved to the presiding justice, and may give the testimony and the declarations such credit as they think they may deserve. In Bordeleau the presiding Justice had indicated his uncertainty as to whether he should treat his own determination of the underlying facts (as to the state of mind of the declarant) as conclusive or should submit them to the jury. He elected to follow the Massachusetts rule [4] and permit a second determination of the preliminary facts by the jury. The Bordeleau Court merely recognized the conflict in authority on this point [5] but declined to take a position since application of the Massachusetts rule could only benefit the respondent and could not constitute prejudicial error of which he could properly complain. Although Bordeleau teaches in unmistakable terms what the preliminary underlying facts are which must be determined by somebody, the case furnishes no guidance as to these important questions. Is the trial court to make the final determination of these facts? If so, by what quantum of proof? By convincing proof, whatever that may be? By proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Or by some less demanding test? Is the jury to be sole arbiter of these facts? Or is it to make a second and subsequent determination and in effect hold a veto power over the factual findings of the presiding Justice? In either event, by what quantum of proof? In the instant case the Justice below, faced with the uncertainties unresolved by Bordeleau, adopted those procedures which would be most favorable to the defendant. As preliminary to his own ruling on admissibility, he required the State to present evidence which satisfied him beyond a reasonable doubt that the deceased was convinced of impending speedy death and entertained no hope of recovery. In his instructions to the jury he carefully refrained from informing them that he had made any factual determination and, in effect, directed them to disregard the dying declarations unless they first concluded that the preliminary factual requirements had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He properly included as a requisite factor to be so proven the accuracy of the witness or witnesses in their reporting of the dying declarations attributed to the deceased. The Justice below was also careful to treat each occasion on which dying declarations were made separately, recognizing that the state of mind of the declarant might well vary from situation to situation. Batten v. Commonwealth (1949) 190 Va. 235, 56 S.E.2d 231. The hope of recovery, completely absent on one occasion, may for example be later renewed by an improvement in the patient's condition or the assurances offered by doctors and nurses. We turn now to an examination of the rationale underlying the conflicting views found in the cases dealing with the several questions posed above in this opinion. In Commonwealth v. Polian (1934) 288 Mass. 494, 193 N.E. 68, 96 A.L.R. 615, the Court, while accepting the practice of permitting the defendant to have a second opportunity to have the statements excluded from consideration by the jury if they do not find the essential preliminary facts, concluded that the jury need only find these facts supported by the fair preponderance of the evidence. The Court felt that the more rigorous requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt should be reserved for the essential elements of the crime. Whether the fair preponderance test would govern the initial determination by the trial court is not made clear by the opinion although it is clear that he must first pass upon the same facts. Polian is followed by an annotation in 96 A.L.R. 621 which suggests that the majority view requires proof of the preliminary facts which satisfies the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. We read People v. Bartelini (1941) 285 N.Y. 433, 35 N.E.2d 29, 167 A.L.R. 139, as holding that there must be clear proof of preliminary facts before the trial court before he may properly admit the dying declarations. Bartelini is the lead case used in connection with a helpful annotation found in 167 A.L.R. 147. A few cases selected at random will serve to illustrate the confused state of the law on this subject. People v. Tilley (1950) 406 Ill. 398, 94 N.E.2d 328, required proof beyond a reasonable doubt before the trial court, the same test being applied when the same questions are subsequently submitted to the jury. People v. Johnson (1952) 334 Mich. 169, 54 N.W.2d 206, defined the quantum of proof requisite in the preliminary proceeding before the trial court by holding that those preliminary matters necessary to be determined before the admission of a dying declaration should be clearly established. There is language in the opinion that suggests that the Johnson Court equated clearly established with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Since it is impossible to reconcile such widely divergent views, our approach is to identify the objective to be obtained and such policy considerations as may seem to dictate the most effective means of accomplishing the desired result. We think it highly desirable insofar as possible to preserve the role of the judge as arbiter of the applicable law and of the jury as exclusive finder of the facts. Rulings on admissibility of evidence are designed to prevent the jury from hearing, being prejudiced by or giving consideration to matters which under established legal principles have no place in the case. We find persuasive the majority view that since the jury is to determine the weight and credibility of dying declarations they should also pass upon the preliminary facts. The truthfulness and accuracy of the reporting witnesses are of primary importance. Dying declarations are sometimes the strongest and even the only evidence available as to what actually transpired as between the defendant and his victim. When they are admitted, the defendant loses the benefit of having the deceased witness subject to sanctions of an oath and the scrutiny of his cross-examination. Thus the importance of the proof of the preliminary facts which alone can make these declarations, otherwise hearsay, admissible must not be minimized. It imposes no undue burden upon the State, therefore, to require that these essential facts be proved to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. As to the role of the presiding Justice, however, we are satisfied that his should be a legal function and that he should not be assigned the task of a factfindernor should he be bound by some artificially contrived burden of proof. We are not here subject to any constitutional requirement of independent judicial determination of facts as is the case when the voluntariness of a confession is the issue. Jackson v. Denno (1964) 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908. The reasons which prompt the Denno rule have no application to dying declarations. We are satisfied and now hold that the presiding Justice in a preliminary hearing, absent the jury, should examine the evidence to be tendered in support of the facts essential to admission of dying declarations. If he is satisfied that there is credible evidence which if believed would permit but not compel the jury to find the preliminary facts proven beyond a reasonable doubt, he should, unless they violate other legal principles, admit the dying declarations into evidence. The jury may then determine the weight and credibility to be given to the declarations, assigning to them no weight whatsoever if in their judgment the preliminary facts are not so proven. In our view the practice outlined above better accords with the proper functions of judge and jury and will tend to eliminate some of the confusion readily apparent in the case law on this subject. In the instant case the defendant contends that the undisputed evidence of Mrs. Chaplin's pleas for help indicate as a matter of law that she had not abandoned hope of recovery so as to make her declarations inadmissible. Although proper for jury consideration, we do not think these instinctive pleas, accompanied as they were by unqualified assertions of her conviction that she was dying, have that legal effect. Our view is the same with respect to her statement that she was trying to get a divorce, a statement which the jury could properly regard as a reference to past action rather than an expression of hope for the future. The defendant asserts that the declarations were inadmissible as a matter of law because they violated the requirement of completeness. We think the defendant misconceives the rule since he seems to argue that the State failed to present all of its available witnesses in the preliminary hearing before the presiding Justice. The Rule of Completeness has a very different connotation. Wigmore on Evidence, 3d Ed., Vol. V, Page 251, Sec. 1448 carefully explains the rule in these terms: The statement as offered must not be merely a part of the whole as it was expressed by the declarant; it must be complete as far as it goes. But it is immaterial how much of the whole affair of the death is related, provided the statement includes all that the declarant wished or intended to include in it. Thus, if an interruption (by death or by an intruder) cuts short a statement which thus remains clearly less than that which the dying person wished to make, the fragmentary statement is not receivable, because the intended whole is not there, and the whole might be of a very different effect from that of the fragment; yet if the dying person finishes the statement he wishes to make, it is no objection that he has told only a portion of what he might have been able to tell. See also Anno. 94 A.L.R. 679. There is no suggestion that the rule as thus defined was violated in this case. Among the duties of the trial court in ruling on admissibility is the obligation to determine whether or not a portion of the declarant's statement must be excluded even though the balance of the statement meets all of the applicable requirements. So in the instant case Mrs. Chaplin was quoted by several witnesses as saying at the hospital, in effect, that her husband stabbed her and that he had tried to stab her twice before, that he has tried before but I would not let him, that he's tried several times before. Specific and independent grounds of objection were seasonably noted to the admission of the above quoted portions of the declarations. Clearly, these accusations of past efforts and inclination to stab the declarant were, if inadmissible, highly prejudicial to the defendant, especially in view of the fact that the primary defense was a claim of accident. Courts have accepted the evidentiary value of dying declarations but only for limited purposes and only because of the necessity which arises from the death of one who would otherwise be available as a primary prosecuting witness. Recognizing the hearsay quality of the evidence and the important loss of the truth testing mechanism of cross-examination, courts have been unwilling to permit the use of such evidence beyond the limits of that necessity. Accordingly it has been universally held that a dying declaration must be confined to the circumstances immediately attending the homicide and forming part of the res gestae. A declaration as to a previous transaction is inadmissible. Anno. 14 A.L.R. 757; Jones on Evidence, 5th Ed., Vol. 2, Page 575, Sec. 305; Underhill's Criminal Evidence, 5th Ed., Vol. 2, Page 738, Sec. 293; and cases cited in above texts. The rationale of the limiting rule is carefully stated in Jones v. State (1951) 94 Okl.Cr. 359, 236 P.2d 102, 110. The State suggests that there is a so-called Kentucky rule, broader in scope, which, although a minority rule, should be viewed as better reasoned. We have examined the Kentucky authorities and are satisfied that the courts of that State subscribe to the rule limiting declarations to the res gestae precisely as do other courts. Nolan v. Commonwealth (1935) 261 Ky. 384, 87 S.W. 2d 946, 948; Meade v. Commonwealth (1928) 225 Ky. 177, 7 S.W.2d 1052, 1055. The reason for the rule is well illustrated when applied to the facts of this case. If cross-examination had been available, it might have revealed that the alleged prior acts of the defendant had occurred many years before or that what the declarant characterized as attempts to stab her were in reality innocuous or even imaginary acts bearing no relationship whatever to this alleged homicide. The State has all the benefit from dying declarations to which it is entitled when it is permitted to use them to prove identity of the assailant and the events which comprise the res gestae. We conclude that it was error to permit the witnesses to relate that portion of the declarations alleging prior attempts to stab the declarant. As we have already noted, the error was highly prejudicial and requires that defendant be afforded a new trial. The inadmissible portions of the declarations may upon a new trial be properly severed from the admissible portions by the use of cautionary instructions to the witnesses which may be given in the absence of the jury. In view of this holding it becomes unnecessary to dwell at length upon other points raised on this appeal. We make these brief comments as an aid to the Court below upon a new trial.