Opinion ID: 2275841
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Introduction of out-of-court statements.

Text: For his fourth point on appeal, the appellant contends that the trial court erroneously permitted the State to introduce Ashley Heath's statement to Hayes McWhirter and Cynthia Emerson as an excited utterance. However, the appellant's allegation is again barred from appellate review because it is unsupported by argument or authority. The appellant has not included in his brief any argument or legal support for his contention that the statement was hearsay and did not fit under the excited-utterance exception to the hearsay rule. Instead, appellant makes the bare assertion that the statement in question was impermissible hearsay evidence and did not constitute an excited utterance. That assertion alone is insufficient. More importantly, however, this issue also is precluded from appellate review because it was decided in Johnson I. There, in response to the appellant's argument that Ashley's statement to McWhirter and Emerson was hearsay, this Court held that we do not view the statement by Ashley made more than nine hours after her mother's body was discovered and she was removed from the apartment as inconsistent with the spontaneity and impulsiveness associated with an excited utterance. Johnson I, 326 Ark. at 443, 934 S.W.2d at 185. Again, the law-of-the-case doctrine precludes review of issues concluded in a prior appeal unless there has been an intervening material change in the evidence. See Camargo, supra. Here, there has been no such change in the evidence. Recognizing that fact, appellant makes an unpersuasive attempt to convince this Court to ignore the law-of-the-case doctrine and review this issue again. We decline to do so.