Opinion ID: 2329200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Testimony of Tia Daviau

Text: We next consider the testimony of Tia Daviau, a coworker of the victim. During direct examination of Daviau, the state attempted to elicit what the victim had told Daviau, during conversations between the two in the three weeks prior to the victim's death, about how she felt about the defendant. The defendant objected to the line of inquiry several times on relevance and hearsay grounds. The state countered that the testimony was relevant and fell under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule, and that it had been argued and ruled on before by the court. After the trial court overruled the objection, Daviau testified that [the victim] was frighten of [the defendant]. The defendant argues that the trial court improperly admitted Daviau's testimony under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule because the state's question was not limited exclusively to the victim's state of mind; rather, it referred to how the victim felt about the defendant. The defendant also argues that the evidence was irrelevant. We disagree. Daviau's response to the state's question went directly to the state of mind of the victim, namely, fear of the defendant. The evidence was offered to establish that state of mind. As discussed in part I A 1 of this opinion, the victim's fear of the defendant tended to show a deterioration in the relationship and to rebut the defendant's implied theory of defense, which were relevant to the issues in the case. 4