Opinion ID: 1226554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Hearsay Evidence on the Victim's State of Mind

Text: We proceed to consider the admissibility of testimony from several witnesses recounting the victim's assertions to them about her fear of the defendant. The basis of the admission was that the statements tended to show the decedent's state of mind as it related to the criminal character of the homicide. We conclude that the admission of this evidence constituted reversible error. A. Hearsay is testimonial or written evidence of an out-of-court assertion which is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. V J. Wigmore, Evidence § 1361 (Chadbourn ed. 1974); C. McCormick, Evidence § 246 (1972). The primary basis for excluding hearsay evidence is the lack of opportunity to subject the declarant to cross-examination. [12] V J. Wigmore, supra, § 1362; C. McCormick, supra, § 245. Exceptions to the general rule of exclusion stem from considerations of trustworthiness and necessity. Under the state of mind exception, assertions about the declarant's state of mind are admissible to prove the truth of the matter asserted. [13] See, e.g. VI J. Wigmore, supra, §§ 1714-15, 1730 (Chadbourn ed. 1976); C. McCormick, supra, § 294. Spoken words provide a reliable and often the only access to the speaker's thoughts, and in the case of a homicide, victim's assertion the element of necessity is obvious. Since the state of mind exception admits the assertion for the truth of the matter asserted, it is basic to admissibility that the assertion essentially depict the declarant's then existing state of mind, as distinguished from a description of the acts or state of mind of another. E.g., Shepard v. United States, 290 U.S. 96, 54 S.Ct. 22, 78 L.Ed. 196 (1933); People v. Purvis, 56 Cal.2d 93, 362 P.2d 713, 13 Cal.Rptr. 801 (1961); State v. Kump, 76 Wyo. 273,301 P.2d 808 (1956). A declaration of present state of mind is one which describes a state of mind at the time of the declaration. C. McCormick, supra, § 294. Thus the statement I fear X is direct evidence of the declarant's fear of X. The state of mind exception encompasses statements of the declarant's present intent to engage in future conduct as proof of the subsequent act. E.g., Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Hillmon, 145 U.S. 285, 12 S.Ct. 909, 36 L.Ed. 706 (1892); Deane Buick Co. v. Kendall, 160 Colo. 265, 417 P.2d 11 (1966). For example, the statement I am going out with X tonight may be offered as circumstantial evidence that the declarant engaged in conduct in keeping with the expressed declaration. Excluded from the state of mind exceptions are statements of memory or belief such as I had a fight yesterday with X. Shepard v. United States, supra , illustrates the danger posed by such statements. There, in a murder prosecution, the trial court admitted testimony that the victim, the wife of the physician-defendant, had stated to a nurse, Dr. Shepard has poisoned me. In rejecting the evidence as a state of mind assertion Justice Cardozo stated: Declarations of intention, casting light upon the future, have been sharply distinguished from declarations of memory, pointing backwards to the past. There would be an end, or nearly that, to the rule against hearsay if the distinction were ignored. The testimony now questioned faced backward and not forward. This, at least, it did in its most obvious implications. What is even more important, it spoke to a past act, and more than that, to an act by someone not the speaker. Other tendency, if it had any, was a filament too fine to be disentangled by a jury. 290 U.S. at 106, 54 S.Ct. at 26, 78 L.Ed. at 202-203. One commentator succinctly put the matter this way: If the courts should sanction the inference from the recollection of the unsworn observer to the reality of the thing remembered, they would practically abolish the hearsay rule altogether, because the most positive assertion of a past act or event, if really made on personal knowledge, amounts to a shorter way of saying, `I remember that I perceived thus and so'. The state of mind called memory is thus proved by the statement of it. The recollection proves the perception, which in turn proves the existence of the thing perceived. Hinton, State of Mind and the Hearsay Rule, 1 U.Chi.L.Rev. 394, 423 (1934). To be distinguished from state of mind assertions are out-of-court declarations admitted for the purpose of establishing the effect of the words on the mental or emotional state of the person hearing them. These declarations, not being hearsay, are admitted not to prove the truth of the words spoken but rather to establish the relevant state of mind in issue. E.g., People v. Gladney, 194 Colo. 68, 570 P.2d 231 (1977), cert. denied 434 U.S. 1038, 98 S.Ct. 776, 54 L.Ed.2d 787 (1968); Bustamonte v. People, 157 Colo. 146, 401 P.2d 597 (1965); People v. Burress, 183 Colo. 146, 515 P.2d 460 (1973). Relevancy is a threshold standard which all evidentiary offerings, hearsay or otherwise, must meet. Evidence is relevant when it renders the claimed inference more probable than it would be without it. See, e.g., People v. Calvaresi, 198 Colo. 321, 600 P.2d 57 (1979). Relevant evidence, however, may be legally inadmissible when its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, or misleading the jury. C. McCormick, supra, § 185. While there are a number of situations in which a victim's fear of the defendant might be relevant in a homicide case, there are several clearly defined categories where it is directly in issue. The most common category involves a defendant's claim of self-defense. When evidence raises the issue whether the victim first attacked the defendant, evidence that the victim feared the defendant is highly probative of the declarant's future conduct, namely that the victim was not the aggressor. See, e.g., People v. Gladney, supra ; Bustamonte v. People, supra . In such cases the relevant state of mind may be established by the victim's statement of fear or by the other evidence circumstantially probative of that condition. A second category is represented by those cases where the defendant claims suicide as the cause of death. See Commonwealth v. DeValle, 351 Mass. 489, 221 N.E.2d 922 (1966); Recent Cases, EvidenceAdmissibility of Declarations Evincing Intention or State of Mind Where Suicide is Asserted as a Defense to Homicides, 28 Temple L.Q. 143 (1954). In such cases evidence of the victim's fear of the defendant tends to refute the defendant's evidence of a suicidal bent. A third category involves the defendant's claim of accidental death, for example an accidental shooting arising out of a struggle instigated by the victim. E.g., People v. Lew, 68 Cal.2d 774, 441 P.2d 942, 69 Cal.Rptr. 102 (1968); People v. Finch, 213 Cal.App.2d 752, 29 Cal.Rptr. 420 (1963). Here evidence of the victim's fear of the defendant tends to rebut a contention that the victim initiated the confrontation. Where the victim's state of mind has not been directly placed in issue, some courts nevertheless admit the victim's statements of fear on the theory that such evidence is circumstantially probative of identity, e.g., State v. Gause, 107 Ariz. 491, 489 P.2d 830 (1971), vacated on other grounds, 409 U.S. 815, 93 S.Ct. 192, 34 L.Ed.2d 71 (1972); People v. Merkouris, 52 Cal.2d 672, 344 P.2d 1 (1959), or is relevant to the issues of motive or intent, e.g., Sallee v. State, 544 P.2d 902 (Okl.Cr.1976). [14] B. Within the framework of these general principles we turn to the challenged evidence. The prosecution offered the victim's assertions early in its case in chief under the state of mind exception. When the statements were offered and received there was no evidence suggesting the victim's death was a suicide. From the outset of the trial the prosecution's evidence established quite conclusively that death resulted from a criminal agency. The defendant never challenged the criminal character of the homicide by claiming suicide or accident. His defense was simply that he did not commit the murder. The purpose for which the victim's assertions were admittedto prove the criminal character of the homicidewas never a contested issue in the case. We recognize that although a victim's state of mind may not be directly in issue when evidence thereon is admitted in the first instance, it may become a material issue later in the case. In this case, however, neither the prosecution's evidence nor the defense evidence raised the issue of self-defense. Nor was there any evidence of a serious and highly provoking act of the intended victim that arguably could have implicated the victim's state of mind and reduced the crime to manslaughter. Section 18-3-104(1)(c), C.R.S.1973 (1978 Repl.Vol. 8). The case was submitted to the jury only on the charge of first degree murder after deliberation. Thus, the victim's state of mind was never directly placed in issue. The People urge that even though the victim's state of mind was not itself directly placed in issue, the admission of the hearsay assertions should not be deemed error so long as relevant to any material issue in the case. There are situations where a victim's state of mind is not directly in issue but nevertheless state of mind assertions may be relevant to some other material issue in the case, such as identity. [15] However, in this case we need not determine what relevancy, if any, the victim's statements had upon other issues in the case. The hearsay assertion contained references to matters which went far beyond the scope of the state of mind exception, and whatever relevancy there might be to some portions of the assertions was far outweighed by the danger of jury misuse and resulting prejudice to the defendant stemming from other parts of the statements. As previously noted a state of mind assertion consists of a description of the mental state of the declarant at the time of the statement. That the victim's assertions were admitted for the truth of their contents cannot be disputed. The jury was not cautioned to disregard the statements as evidence of the truth of the matters asserted therein. Indeed, considering the evidentiary context in which the statements were admitted, the victim's words by themselves had little, if any, significance other than the truth of their contents. The plain meaning of the court's limiting instruction was that the jury could consider the contents of the statements as proof of the decedent's state of mind in relation to the criminal character of the homicide. An analysis of the victim's assertions discloses that any reference therein to the victim's state of fear is significantly overshadowed by references to other matters not encompassed by the state of mind exception. These improper references include assertions about the defendant's (as distinguished from the declarant's) state of mind, an opinion relating to the likelihood of his murdering the victim-declarant, and a reference to the defendant's past homicidal conduct. The victim's statements to Jessica Roberts and William Fleming indicating that the defendant was so mad he could kill her are assertions about the defendant's state of mind. Similarly, the victim's statements to Betty Fleming, William Fleming and Khip Turley about checking the trash cans if she (the victim) came up missing are nothing less than expressions of opinion that the defendant will kill her. The victim's Thanksgiving Day statement to her daughter, Khip Turley, basically was a repetition of the defendant's statement to the victim that he had killed before and would kill again, if necessary. It contains not the slightest reference to the declarant's state of mind. We cannot ignore the practical and human limitations of the jury system. The hearsay assertions bluntly informed the jury that the defendant intended to kill the victim-declarant, that the victim was of the opinion he would likely do so, and that the defendant had killed in the past. The court's instruction permitted the jury to consider these assertions for their truth as they related to the victim-declarant's state of mind. Under this same instruction the jury could not avoid considering the same assertions for what they clearly depicted about the defendanthis intent to kill, the likelihood of his doing so, and his prior homicidal conduct. Generally, in a trial on the merits a lay witness cannot testify directly to a defendant's criminal intent nor venture an opinion about a defendant's future criminality. See, e.g., Bershenyi v. People, 71 Colo. 432, 207 P. 591 (1922); 3 Wharton's Criminal Evidence § 623 (13th ed. C. Torcia 1973). The admission of the hearsay assertions in this case permitted the prosecution to do indirectly what it could not do directly. Such evidence, in addition to being substantively inadmissible, contravenes the basic requirements of admissibility for any hearsay assertion under the state of mind exceptiona statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind. See, e.g., United States v. Kaplan, 510 F.2d 606 (2d Cir. 1974); United States v. Brown, 490 F.2d 758 (D.C.Cir.1973); People v. Lew, supra ; People v. Hamilton, 55 Cal.2d 881, 362 P.2d 473, 13 Cal.Rptr. 649 (1961); State v. Fowler, 248 N.W.2d 511 (Iowa 1976), cert. denied 439 U.S. 1072, 99 S.Ct. 842, 59 L.Ed.2d 37 (1979); People v. White, 401 Mich. 482, 257 N.W.2d 912 (1977); State v. Parr, 93 Wash.2d 95, 606 P.2d 263 (1980). Moreover, especially in a murder prosecution, a reference during the prosecution's case in chief to a defendant's prior act of homicide is extremely inflammatory and likely to beget prejudice in the minds of the jury. See, e.g., Stull v. People, 140 Colo. 278, 344 P.2d 455 (1959); Martin v. People, 114 Colo. 120, 162 P.2d 597 (1945); Tarling v. People, 69 Colo. 477, 194 P. 939 (1921). If anything, the likelihood of prejudice is compounded when the inadmissible evidence takes the form of an out-of-court declaration not subject to cross-examination. See, e.g., People v. Botham, Colo., 629 P.2d 589 (1981). For the jurors in this case to consider the assertions as true only as they related to the victim's state of mind and not true for any other purpose is a feat beyond their ability and almost certainly beyond their willingness. C. McCormick, supra, § 294 at 696. Justice Cardozo recognized the futility of such an expectation in Shepard v. United States, supra : It will not do to say that the jury might accept the declarations for any light that they cast upon the existence of a vital urge, and reject them to the extent that they charged the death to some one else. Discrimination so subtle is a feat beyond the compass of ordinary minds. The reverberating clang of those accusatory words would drown all weaker sounds. It is for ordinary minds, and not for psychoanalysts, that our rules of evidence are framed. They have their source very often in considerations of administrative convenience, of practical expediency, and not in rules of logic. When the risk of confusion is so great as to upset the balance of advantage, the evidence goes out. 290 U.S. at 104, 54 S.Ct. at 25-26, 78 L.Ed. at 201-202. Other courts have come to the same conclusion under circumstances similar to those present here. See, e.g., People v. Ireland, 70 Cal.2d 522, 450 P.2d 580, 75 Cal.Rptr. 188 (1969); People v. Hamilton, supra ; State v. Wauneka, 560 P.2d 1377 (Utah 1977); see also People v. White, supra . We conclude that the admission of the victim's assertions in their present form [16] irreparably impaired the fairness of the trial proceedings and constituted reversible error. We accordingly reverse the conviction and remand the case for a new trial.