Opinion ID: 1216672
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: statements of edna wright

Text: Edna Wright, the deceased's wife, was originally indicted with the defendant, but died prior to trial. At trial, Mrs. Ginny Smith testified to two telephone conversations she had with Mrs. Wright on the evening of the shooting. Mrs. Wright initially called Mrs. Smith and related that her husband was fighting with the defendant and that they had been drinking. She wanted Mrs. Smith's husband to get her out of the house. Mrs. Smith said Mrs. Wright sounded very agitated and she could hear loud shouting in the background. She indicated to Mrs. Wright that her husband would not come over, but that she would call the police for her. Subsequently, Mrs. Smith called back to tell Mrs. Wright the police would not assist in the matter and suggested that Mrs. Wright call the emergency room and go to the hospital. She was aware that Mrs. Wright had recently been discharged from the hospital. [3] The trial court admitted the various statements of Edna Wright under Rule 803(2), W.V.R.E., the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule, which provides: [4] The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:       (2) Excited Utterance. A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. Our Rule 803(2), along with our other Rules of Evidence, is substantially patterned after the Federal Rules of Evidence. It is generally recognized that the Federal Rules of Evidence were designed to codify the common law rules of evidence. In particular, Rule 803 of the Federal Rules relating to excited utterances has continued much the same requirements of the common law rule, [5] i.e., that a startling event must have occurred, that the statement must have been made while the declarant was under the influence of the event, and that the statement must have referred to the startling event. 4 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence at 803-85 (1985). E.g., David By Berkeley v. Pueblo Supermarket of St. Thomas, 740 F.2d 230 (3d Cir.1984); Haggins v. Warden, Fort Pillow State Farm, 715 F.2d 1050 (6th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1071, 104 S.Ct. 980, 79 L.Ed.2d 217 (1984). The excited utterance exception proceeds upon the assumption that a guarantee of reliability surrounds statements made by one who participates in or observes a startling event, provided they are made while under the stress of excitement. See, e.g., State v. Ray, ___ W.Va. ___, 298 S.E.2d 921 (1982); State v. Young, 166 W.Va. 309, 273 S.E.2d 592 (1980). Where a statement is made spontaneously while the declarant's ability to reflect is held in abeyance, the possibility of intentional falsehood is greatly minimized. [6] This circumstantial guarantee of truthfulness is deemed to be an adequate substitute for the denial of the right of cross-examination. Prior to the adoption of our Rules of Evidence, we recognized this exception. In Syllabus Point 2 of Young, we elaborated at some length on the requirements designating this exception as a spontaneous declaration: An alleged spontaneous declaration must be evaluated in light of the following factors: (1) The statement or declaration must relate to the main event and must explain, elucidate, or in some way characterize that event; (2) it must be a natural declaration or statement growing out of the event, and not a mere narrative of a past, completed affair; (3) it must be a statement of fact and not the mere expression of an opinion; (4) it must be a spontaneous or instinctive utterance of thought, dominated or evoked by the transaction or occurrence itself, and not the product of premeditation, reflection, or design; (5) while the declaration or statement need not be coincident or contemporaneous with the occurrence of the event, it must be made at such time and under such circumstances as will exclude the presumption that it is the result of deliberation; and (6) it must appear that the declaration or statement was made by one who either participated in the transaction or witnessed the act or fact concerning which the declaration or statement was made. See also Syllabus Point 1, State v. Ray, supra ; Syllabus Point 5, Bowman v. Barnes, 168 W.Va. 111, 282 S.E.2d 613 (1981); Lawrence v. Nelson, 145 W.Va. 134, 113 S.E.2d 241 (1960). We indicated in both Ray and Young that our syllabus point on the spontaneous declaration exception came from the text of Ward v. Raleigh County Park Bd., 143 W.Va. 931, 105 S.E.2d 881 (1958). The Ward rule does not appear to reflect our prior law, [7] but instead adopts a more elaborate test contained in Beck v. Dye, 200 Wash. 1, 92 P.2d 1113 (1939). [8] There is a certain amount of redundancy in our summary of the spontaneous declaration, as factors four and five contained in the Syllabi of Ray and Young contain duplicate statements that the declaration cannot result from deliberation or design. The term spontaneous or excited utterance would automatically exclude the element of deliberateness so that it would hardly seem necessary to express such an exclusion. We believe that Rule 803(2), W.V.R.E., correctly contains the heart of the hearsay exception that we formerly called a spontaneous declaration and which is now termed the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. Certainly, the more detailed treatment of this exception contained in Syllabus Point 2 of Young is helpful to further refine the contours of the rule. We conclude that Mrs. Wright's statement to the effect that Junior and Slim [were] drinking and fighting was properly admitted as an excited utterance. From Mrs. Smith's description of Mrs. Wright's tone of voice and speech, she was considerably agitated and disturbed. She stated that she wanted Mrs. Smith to have someone get her out of the house. Of some importance is the fact that Mrs. Smith testified that she heard shouting in the background. The chief argument against admissibility under Rule 803(2) is that the witness, Mrs. Smith, was not present at the exciting event along with Mrs. Wright. We are not aware of any requirement that the witness who hears an excited declaration must also be present at the exciting event although this may frequently occur. The veracity of the declaration is not founded upon the witness's participation in the event, but upon the participation of the declarant. In several cases, we have indicated without any elaborate discussion that a witness who testifies about an excited utterance of a third person need not be present at the exciting event as a condition for its admissibility. State v. Persinger, 169 W.Va. 121, 141, 286 S.E.2d 261, 273 (1982); State v. Mahramus, 157 W.Va. 175, 200 S.E.2d 357 (1973); F. Cleckley, Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers at 501 (2d ed. 1986). In both of these cases, the victim of a sexual assault, while still under the shock of the event, stated that she had been raped and named her assailant. The witnesses who testified as to these statements were not present during the assaults. It is generally recognized elsewhere that a witness need not be present at the exciting event in order to testify as to the out-of-court declarant's excited utterance. E.g., State v. Bult, 351 N.W.2d 731 (S.D.1984) (statements by kidnap victim to her mother regarding her abductor); Cunningham v. Hodges, 150 Ga.App. 827, 258 S.E.2d 631 (1979) (statement by janitor to fire investigator that apartment fire began while attempting to burn cobwebs with torch); People v. Robertson, 43 Ill.App.3d 143, 1 Ill.Dec. 898, 356 N.E.2d 1180 (1975) (statements by stabbing victim to passers-by describing assailant); see generally 4 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 803(2)[01] (1986); Annot., 89 A.L.R.3d 102 (1979) (complaints to third parties by victims of sex crimes); Annot., 4 A.L.R.3d 149 (1965) (accusatory statements by homicide victims); Annot., 78 A.L.R.2d 300 (1961) (utterances by bystanders overheard by third parties). Of some additional concern is whether there has to be independent proof of the existence of the exciting event that brings about the statement or whether the declarant's own statement is sufficient if it refers to the exciting event. F. Cleckley, supra at 501. We indicated in Collins v. Equitable Life Ins. Co., 122 W.Va. 171, 8 S.E.2d 825 (1940), that the statement itself may carry sufficient indicia of the exciting event. Collins involved a double indemnity death benefit claim. In order to recover, an accidental death had to be proved. Claim was made that the deceased died after suffering a fall. The only proof of the fall was a statement he made to a coworker when he arrived at work that he had fallen on the way to work. He was considerably agitated at the time he made this statement. We held that the statement was admissible and that it proved the exciting event. [9] Here, the witness, Mrs. Smith testified as to Mrs. Wright's agitated voice, the latter's reference to a fight occurring in her presence, and that she heard the sounds of voices shouting in the background. This was sufficient proof of the existence of the exciting event, i.e., the fight. We conclude that Mrs. Smith's testimony with regard to Mrs. Wright's statements was admissible. Another statement by Edna Wright was related by a paramedic. Shortly after their arrival at the scene, the paramedics spoke with Mrs. Wright about the circumstances of the shooting. She said that the defendant had been involved in an argument with the deceased, that she had heard no gunshots, and that she had learned Mr. Wright was dead only when trying to wake him. She also said that the defendant had asked earlier in the day if she wanted him to shoot the deceased. Testimony regarding these various statements was admitted, following a voir dire examination of one of the paramedics, under the excited utterance exception. Although the defendant initially objected to these statements at an in camera hearing, we believe he waived his objection when on cross-examination of Kenny Chastain, one of the paramedics, he introduced and read to the jury Mr. Chastain's lengthy written statement which contained the same information. It is generally held that where a party objects to incompetent evidence, but subsequently introduces the same evidence, he is deemed to have waived his objection. E.g., People v. Haywood, 60 Ill.App.3d 236, 17 Ill.Dec. 329, 376 N.E.2d 328 (1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 948, 99 S.Ct. 1427, 59 L.Ed.2d 637 (1979); State v. LaVe, 174 Mont. 401, 571 P.2d 97 (1977); State v. Smith, 290 N.C. 148, 226 S.E.2d 10, cert. denied, 429 U.S. 932, 97 S.Ct. 339, 50 L.Ed.2d 301 (1976); Curry v. State, 468 S.W.2d 455 (Tex.Cr.App.1971), vacated in part on other grounds, 408 U.S. 939, 92 S.Ct. 2872, 33 L.Ed.2d 761 (1972); Saunders v. Commonwealth, 211 Va. 399, 177 S.E.2d 637 (1970); 75 Am. Jur.2d Trials § 174 (1974). The waiver question is not without some qualification in the context of cross-examination. Courts have recognized that a party objecting to evidence which is claimed to be inadmissible may cross-examine to further undermine its evidentiary basis without waiving his initial objection. This was clearly explained in State v. Wells, 52 N.C.App. 311, 315, 278 S.E.2d 527, 530 (1981): [I]t is also true that one does not waive an objection, otherwise sound and seasonably made, by attempting to explain or destroy the probative value of the evidence on cross-examination. (Citations omitted). Here, the cross-examination consisted of going over the initial statement of Mr. Chastain with no attempt to undermine or have explained the testimony of Mrs. Wright in those few areas where she made adverse comments against the defendant. [10]