Opinion ID: 2510154
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Victim's diary

Text: Over Appellant's hearsay objection, the State also introduced at trial the victim's diary. The diary was approximately sixty-three pages in length, with undated entries written by the victim purportedly during the weeks preceding her death. The diary was located in the victim's sock drawer and was found by Kristy and given to police. It was read into evidence by one of the investigating officers. Included in the victim's diary were statements she wrote describing the alleged incidents previously discussed and testified to by Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy. [15] Additionally, the victim wrote that Appellant was angry about her unsuccessful suicide attempt and that he was crystal clear that he was disappointed that I did not `get it right.' About her prior suicide attempt, the victim wrote that [a]nyone who knows me well knows how I feel about suicide. I've been the one left behind to pick up the pieces & go on [16] & I would NEVER put my kids through that. I think I was just trying to get the message across to my family that the whole situation with [Appellant] & his girlfriend.... all this stuff is just too much to handle. So I popped a few Xanax, put the car window down, started the engine & just laid down & went to sleep. I really did not want to die. I just wanted/needed all of this to stop before my entire family falls apart. When the kids woke me up in the car [17] & realized what I attempted to do, their reactions made it 100% clear to me that I need to live. I need & want to be around for my kid's no matter what. [Appellant's] reaction to my attempt was painful to me but it was nothing in comparison to seeing the devastation to my kids that I'd caused, just for my own selfish attempt to get my family's attention. I will NEVER do any thing so foolish & selfish again. It's clear that my kids love & need me & my only goal in life now is to ALWAYS put them firstregardless of my own pain. I love them more than anything in this world. They are my '2 perfect works of art.' MORE LATER (Footnotes added) According to the victim's diary, she and Appellant argued about the same old thing that he's been telling me a lot-which is that I'm worth more to him deadthan alive. The victim also wrote that [t]onight he said `you just won't f      die' and `you should have been dead a long time ago'.... Nova is going to close soonand my life insurance there is $100,000.00. What worries me is that the insurance is only active while he is employed there. I hope I'm just being paranoidbut sometimes I think he'd prefer my death to me living. He's made that pretty clear. The victim further recounted a discussion with Appellant which began about finances and quickly escalated to how all problems would be solved if I would `just die.' He believes that the insurance would keep him going and my death would allow his total freedom.....He asked me twice in this `discussion' to kill myself and `do it right this time.' He even offered to help me!!.... I was so frustrated that I said why don't you just kill me & get it over with. He said `don't think I haven't thought about it.' He claims that he's researched how to beat a lie-detector test, how to make a murder look like a suicide and how to fool the cops around here because none of them are qualified to go up against someone like him. I told him that they would take his computer and see what he'd been `researching.' His reply was that he's not that stupid & that there are many computers he could use besides his own [18] .... Well, I'm NOT going to kill myselfif he wants thathe's going to have to do it himself or get someone else to do it. If I diemy blood will be on his handsnot mine. He also says that he found out how to get gunpowder on my hands without me pulling the trigger. (Footnote added) In addition to the foregoing, the victim's diary also included countless entries about random events and thoughts. Many of the entries portray Appellant in a very unfavorable light, while others portray the victim in a very favorable one. By way of example only, the victim wrote that she loves and respects Appellant's mother [19] ; that Appellant spent the money due on their homeowner's insurance on his girlfriend [20] ; that because of Appellant, Kristy never wants to get married [21] ; that she is proud to be her children's mother [22] ; and that she avoided Appellant on his birthday. [23] Additionally, the victim wrote about incidents considered by the trial court to be routine daily things occurring in [her] life which the State went to great lengths to corroborate with evidence presented during several hearings in this case. [24] It was based upon entries of this nature and their corroboration by the State that the trial court ruled the entire sixty-three page diary to be trustworthy [25] and, therefore, admissible, [26] primarily under the residual hearsay exception, West Virginia Rule of Evidence 803(24), [27] and to a lesser degree, under W.Va. R. Evid. 803(3), [28] the hearsay exception for then existing mental, emotional or physical condition. Appellant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Appellant now appeals his conviction and sentence.