Opinion ID: 2510154
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Victim's statements to others

Text: Over Appellant's hearsay objection, the State elicited testimony from Kristy, Zachary, and Kristy's boyfriend, Jimmy Schreckengoest, regarding certain statements the victim made to them of alleged threats and acts of violence by Appellant towards her during the weeks preceding her death. Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy all testified that in early December, the victim told them that Appellant threatened her with a gun. According to Kristy, she spoke with her mother the same evening the incident allegedly occurred. Kristy testified that during a routine telephone conversation, [her mother] sounded shaken up when she answered. She was being very quiet, not her normal self, and I asked her what was going on and she said nothing at first, and I said, `I don't believe that. What's the matter?' And she told me that she needed to keep her outbursts to a minimum like she promised and I said, `What do you mean?' And she said that after I'd left the house that evening, that the Defendant had come in and threatened her with a gun. Kristy testified that she did not call the police or confront Appellant about the incident because her mother told her not to. That same evening, following Kristy's telephone call with her mother, Jimmy drove Kristy to her parent's home so that she could gather some clothing to stay over at Jimmy's house. While he sat in his car outside the house waiting for Kristy, her mother walked out to speak to Jimmy. Jimmy testified that although the two had never before been introduced, she told him that the reason she wanted Krist[y] to stay with me overnight was because [Appellant] and her had gotten into an altercation earlier in the day. She had been admittedly giving him a hard time about his girlfriend. ..... And she said he was getting more and more angry with her as she kept on about it. She said at one point, he went upstairs and returned with a gun and had pushed her up against the wall and told her to keep her mouth shut or he would shut it for her. In recounting the same incident to Zachary late at night on December 16th, the day before she died, his mother mentioned that at one point, [Appellant] had held a gun to her head and said `This can shoot through a pig skin.' Zachary testified that her demeanor [f]or the first part of it, she seemed, you know, pretty okay. She was pretty calm about it. But after a while, I mean, you could tell it was starting to affect her a little bit when she was talking to me about it, so... [.] Zachary and Jimmy also testified about another incident the victim recounted to them in which Appellant allegedly attempted to strangle her with a cord. Jimmy testified that during the previously-described conversation he had with the victim in early December, she told him that Appellant had tried to strangle her with an object and she had to kick him to get away from him; and then after she'd gotten away, that things went back to normal[.] When asked what type of object Appellant used, Jimmy testified that [t]he word she used, I believe, was cord, but I don'tshe didn't say anything really specific. [13] Jimmy further testified that the victim did not cry or yell when she recounted this incident, rather [s]he just seemed irritated more than anything, like it was just something that bothered her. She wasn't really, I would say, upset or angry. Zachary also testified that on the Thanksgiving Day preceding his mother's death, she told him that she had wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner for him but that Appellant would not let her. She also showed him several marks around her neck and claimed Appellant tried to strangle her. Zachary described the marks as red, but they didn't look like they had just happened. Indeed, he testified that she did not indicate when the alleged strangulation had actually occurred. Zachary further testified that his mother cried as she showed him the marks around her neck. [14] Although Appellant objected to the admission of the foregoing statements by the victim to Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy on hearsay grounds, the trial court stated that it would admit them pursuant to this Court's decision in State v. Sutphin, 195 W.Va. 551, 466 S.E.2d 402 (1995).