Court Opinion

ID: 9463601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:10:36.652966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:10.873269
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent. I would affirm on the opinion of the district court.
If admissible, the hearsay evidence which is relied upon to sustain defendant’s conviction of possession of a sawed-off shotgun found locked in the trunk of a car in violation of Virginia law shows only that he was a passenger in the car. The hearsay cannot be fitted into any recognized exception to the hearsay rule, and since it was crucial to defendant’s conviction, I agree with the district court that its admission violated Freeman’s rights under the confrontation clause. Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74, 91 S.Ct. 210, 27 L.Ed.2d 213 (1970). Even if the district judge and I are incorrect in our application of Dutton, the evidence that Freeman was a passenger in the car fails to prove an essential element of the Virginia crime: namely, that Freeman either had dominion or control of the trunk of the car, or that he knew or could have known what was in it. Thus, there is lacking any evidentiary basis to support his conviction and the district court properly issued the writ.