Opinion ID: 1407226
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Admissibility of Defendant's Threat to the Victim

Text: We first examine the statement made by the defendant to the victim. Mr. Lusk testified he was told by the victim that the defendant threatened to kill her if she ever tried to leave him again. The State maintains that the defendant's threat is an admission by a party-opponent; therefore admissible as non-hearsay under W.Va. R.Evid. 801(d)(2). This Court has not previously analyzed whether a threat to do an act in the future is non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2). While a threat to do something in the future would at first not seem to qualify as an admission of past wrongdoing, as Rule 801(d)(2) is commonly applied, there is no requirement that a statement must relate back to an event for it to qualify. Rule 801(d)(2) provides, [a] statement is not hearsay if ... [it] is offered against a party and is [] the party's own statement. Other jurisdictions that have addressed this question have held that threats, prospective statements of wrongdoing, do comply with the requirements of Rule 801(d)(2) and therefore fall within its scope. See, e.g., United States v. Guerrero, 803 F.2d 783 (3d Cir.1986) (evidence of a threatening statement did not constitute hearsay because it was a statement of a party, offered against that party, and therefore not subject to the hearsay rule); State v. Hernandez, 120 Idaho 653, 818 P.2d 768 (Idaho Ct.App.1991) (testimony of witness in regard to threatening letters she received from the defendant, which she could not produce at trial, was admissible under Idaho R.Evid. 801(d)(2) on the rationale that admissions [do] not merely refer to inculpatory statements by a party that he committed the act in question, but include words or conduct of a party which are offered against him); State v. Collins, 335 N.C. 729, 440 S.E.2d 559 (1994) (defendant's testimony regarding his own out-of-court threats against the murder victim was admissible as an admission by a party-opponent). We believe there is sufficient support for a broader application of Rule 801(d)(2) so as to include a threat as an admission. Scholars who have commented upon the rationale of including threats under Rule 801(d)(2) reason that: [c]onfessions of crime are a particular kind of admission.... Admissions do not need to have the dramatic effect or be the all-encompassing acknowledgement of responsibility that the word confession connotes. They are simply words or actions inconsistent with the party's position at trial, relevant to the substantive issues in the case, and offered against the party. 2 McCormick on Evidence § 254, at 142 (John W. Strong ed., 4th ed. 1992) (footnote omitted). We hold that a threat to commit an act in the future, if made by the declarant/party and offered against the party, is not hearsay under W.Va.R.Evid. 801(d)(2). The threat to kill the victim if she ever left him again was made by the defendant and was offered against him at trial. Therefore, the defendant's threat satisfies the requirements of Rule 801(d)(2) and is admissible as a statement which is not hearsay. This part of the hearsay within hearsay as expressed with a Rule 805 formula is therefore satisfied. As a redundant position, the State contends that if the threat does not qualify as non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2), it is still admissible hearsay under the exception contained in W.Va.R.Evid. 803(3), which is better known as the state of mind exception. For some reason, neither party centers its position testing the admissibility of the threat under a state of mind exception upon a Rule 803(3) analysis. Instead, the parties argue whether the statement by the defendant satisfies the requirements of State v. Duell, 175 W.Va. 233, 332 S.E.2d 246 (1985). In Duell, we held that a threat made against a victim two weeks before the homicide was admissible, if nothing else to show premeditation. Id. Duell was decided approximately four months after the codification of the West Virginia Rules of Evidence and did not rely on Rule 803(3) in reaching its conclusion. Accordingly, we find that Duell is not dispositive of any evidentiary issue that is embraced within the West Virginia Rules of Evidence. However, since its holding is not contrary to Rule 803(3), we find that Duell remains as a source of guidance. [8] Reed v. Wimmer, 195 W.Va. 199, 205, 465 S.E.2d 199, 205 (1995). Rule 803(3) provides that the following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness: (3) Then Existing Mental, Emotional, or Physical Condition. A statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, and bodily health), but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed unless it relates to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of declarant's will. W.Va.R.Evid. 803(3). We do not believe it necessary to find another justification to hold that the defendant's statement to the victim is admissible since it is not hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2). However, if the statement needs another reason to endorse its admissibility, we believe the threat is a manifestation of the defendant's state of mind as it relates to the issue of premeditation and is therefore an exception to the hearsay rule under W.Va. R.Evid. 803(3). Despite the lapse of three months between the threat and its fulfillment, the record convinces us that the day of the shooting was the first time since the threat was made that the victim attempted to commit the underlying act which would trigger the threatleaving the defendant. Accordingly, the threat made by the defendant to the victim, to the extent that he would kill the victim if she left him again, is admissible either as non-hearsay as an admission by a party pursuant to Rule 801(d)(2), or alternatively as hearsay admissible under the state of mind exception under Rule 803(3).