Court Opinion

ID: 9729411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:34:14.293636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:57.694670
License: Public Domain

NIGRO, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the Majority’s decision. I write separately only to clarify a point involving the hearsay statements of Dawn Anderson.
*62Annie Holloman and Lisa Tyler did not testify that Anderson mentioned Appellant by name in any of the statements she made prior to leaving Holloman’s residence. Both Holloman and Tyler indicated that Anderson used the word “they.” See N.T., 10/18/94, at 85; 10/19/94, at 107. The statements in question were therefore rather vague and did not constitute completely reliable evidence of Appellant’s guilt.
The vagueness of the statements, however, simply goes to their weight. Defense counsel recognized this at trial and used it to his advantage by highlighting the indefinite nature of the statements. For example, on cross-examination, Lisa Tyler admitted that she did not know to whom Anderson was referring when she stated that “they” might kill her. See N.T., 10/18/94, at 96-98. Holloman, in turn, testified on cross that she had understood Anderson to be referring to Appellant and/or Shawn Wilson when she stated that “they” had shot her in the elbow. See N.T., 10/19/94, at 109-10.
Given this, and the fact that the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule applies in this case, it is clear that the trial court did not err in admitting the statements in question.