Court Opinion

ID: 9769799
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:02:27.427803+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:08.157470
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent from that part of the majority opinion which vacates and remands this case to the circuit court to attempt to authenticate the tape recording of the telephone conversation between Della Partin and Shirley Williams. The trial judge ' correctly excluded the tape of the alleged telephone conversation.
There is no indication of who made the tape, how it was made or how the speakers were identified. There is no way for the trial judge, this Court or anyone else to know exactly what the tape actually is an alleged record of, or even that it is what Brock claims that it is. Clearly, Brock has failed to comply with the requirements of Commonwealth v. Thompson, Ky., 697 S.W.2d 143 (1985), in that he has not presented a complete record on all the issues which he wishes to be considered on appeal. Thompson, supra, held that when a complete record is not before the reviewing court, that court must assume that the omitted record supports the decision of the trial judge. See also Copley v. Commonwealth, Ky., 854 S.W.2d 748 (1993).
In addition, none of the requirements set out in Carrier v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 607 S.W.2d 115 (1980), have been followed so *32as to meet even a minimum foundation of trial requirements for the introduction of a recording.
In addition, the tape in question does not meet the mandates of a state-of-mind exception to hearsay rule of KRE 803(3). There is no indication of exactly when the victim made the alleged threats to Brock. According to the testimony of Della Partin at trial, she saw the victim the morning before his death which had occurred at 7 p.m. in the evening. Even if we accept that version of the facts, such evidence was too remote to be relevant. See Matthews v. Commonwealth, Ky., 709 S.W.2d 414 (1985). This type of evidence was cumulative because of the numerous relatives who testified repeatedly about Partin’s drinking habits and his allegedly hostile mindset against Brock.
Brock called Della Partin and her testimony was not prejudicial to his theory of the case. She stated that she was rather old and had memory problems and did not remember much about the event except that she thought she saw the victim the morning before he was killed. At the most, impeachment by the tape would have entitled Brock to an instruction on self-defense which he received in any event. The trial judge correctly exercised his discretion in excluding the tape.
I would affirm the judgment of conviction in all respects.
GRAVES, J., joins this dissent.