Opinion ID: 2625337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Victim Hearsay Statement

Text: Defendant contends that Deborah Nordman's testimony that murder victim Nancy had told her, If you don't hear from me in two weeks, send the police, was inadmissible hearsay, and that in any event the trial court should have excluded the testimony as unduly prejudicial under Evidence Code section 352. We disagree. The statement was admissible. Even if viewed as hearsay (see Evid.Code, § 1200) the statement was within the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule. It was also relevant and not unduly prejudicial, as discussed below. Evidence Code section 1250 states an exception to the hearsay rule for statements of a declarant's then existing state of mind. It provides that such statements are admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule when offered either to prove the declarant's state of mind when the declarant's state of mind is itself in issue or the evidence is offered to prove or explain acts or conduct of the declarant. ( Id., subd. (a)(1), (2).) The statement was admissible under Evidence Code section 1250, subdivision (a)(2) to explain Nancy's conduct. The defense presented the theory that Nancy disappeared of her own accord because she was a troubled person suffering from stress and depression. Nancy's statement to Nordman to send the police if she was not heard from in two weeks was admissible as evidence that Nancy did not disappear on her own. ( People v. Noguera (1992) 4 Cal.4th 599, 620-622, 15 Cal.Rptr.2d 400, 842 P.2d 1160.) Because the statement was evidence of Nancy's state of mind to explain her conduct concerning going with defendant, it was also relevant. (Evid. Code, § 210.) Because the testimony was probative on whether Nancy's disappearance was of her own volition, its evidentiary value was not substantially outweighed by the danger of undue prejudice under Evidence Code section 352. Prejudice for purposes of section 352 refers to evidence that tends to evoke an emotional bias against the defendant. ( People v. Karis (1988) 46 Cal.3d 612, 637-638, 250 Cal. Rptr. 659, 758 P.2d 1189.) Contrary to defendant's assertion, the prejudice, if any, of the statement about calling the police if Nordman did not hear from Nancy in two weeks did not outweigh its probative value because it followed Nordman's nonresponsive answer that Nancy said she feared defendant. Evidence of Nancy's fear of defendant was introduced independent of the statement by Nordman.