Opinion ID: 1166461
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility of Claimed Hearsay Testimony.

Text: At trial, appellant attempted to have excluded allegedly hearsay evidence, but his motion in limine was denied as was, at trial, his objection to the offending testimony. The evidence offered through the testimony of the police officers consisted of the statements appellant's neighbors made to the officers pertaining to appellant's purported intoxication and the fact that he was known to carry a gun. Nevada has adopted the rather standardized definition of hearsay as any out of court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. NRS 51.035. Were the statements related by the officers offered as truth of those assertions, the testimony would have been unquestionably hearsay and equally as offending to appellant's Sixth Amendment confrontation rights. Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970). An issue in the prosecution of this matter concerned the reactions of the police officers to appellant's refusal to move his arms from his sides and away from his weapon as commanded, and his reaching behind his back toward the weapon. Whenever an utterance is offered to evidence the state of mind which ensued in another person in consequence of the utterance, it is obvious that no assertive or testimonial use is sought to be made of it, and the utterance is therefore admissible, so far as the hearsay rule is concerned. (Emphasis original.) 6 Wigmore, Evidence 314 (Chadbourn Rev. 1976). As the officers' response to this behavior was an issue, the testimony of the officers concerning the neighbors' statements was, as an exception to the hearsay rule, relevant to evidence their then existing states of mind. NRS 51.105. Further, the trial court instructed the jury that [t]he police officers' testimony as to what the occupants of trailer space 164 told them is not being offered as proof that the Defendant, Mr. Harry W. Beddow, was doing what those occupants said he was doing. The officers' testimony as to what the occupants of space 164 said, may be considered only for the purpose of evaluating the police officers' state of mind at the time that they went to the Defendant's home. This added precaution minimized the possibility of prejudice. Appellant cites State v. Emery, 4 Or. App. 527, 480 P.2d 445 (1971), as being parallel to the case before us and therefore supportive of his argument. Emery is inapposite, as there the extrajudicial statements were corroborative of the victim's testimony as to the acts constituting the charged offense. The evidence was properly admitted from both an evidentiary as well as a constitutional point of view.