Opinion ID: 2525464
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Failing to prevent the admission of hearsay evidence

Text: At trial Gregory Robertson testified for the State that Richard Powell offered him $10,000 in October 1991 to kill Scotti because Scotti had set Powell up to be arrested for a drug offense. The State offered this as evidence of the motive for the murder. The district court admitted the evidence against Evans under NRS 51.035(3)(e) as a statement by his co-conspirator during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Evans contends that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective in failing to argue that there was no evidence that a conspiracy existed when Powell made the statement. In denying Evans's post-conviction petition, the district court acknowledged that it was error to admit evidence of Powell's statement but the error was harmless. The State does not dispute that it failed to show that a conspiracy existed when the statement was made, but it maintains that it was not critical evidence. Evans argues that the hearsay statement was highly prejudicial because it was the only evidence to explain why he would want to kill Scotti. Powell's statement was not the sole evidence of motive. Shirannah Rice also testified that Evans admitted that he helped kill Scotti because Scotti had informed on Powell. We conclude that even if counsel had succeeded in excluding the hearsay statement there was no reasonable probability of a different result.