Dying Declaration

• Dying Declaration Survives 'Crawford' Challenge

Who needs law school to understand the dying declaration? One can pretty much learn everything you need to know about this well-known exception to the hearsay rule from all those film noir classics churned out by Hollywood in the 40s and 50s.

• Lawyers USA
• August 09, 2010

• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules Dying Declaration Admissible

A dying declaration is admissible as a common law exception to the hearsay rule, regardless of whether it is testimonial in nature, Massachusetts' highest court has ruled. The case stemmed from the murder of a woman by her friend's boyfriend. The victim called 911 in a panic after the boyfriend broke into her house and stabbed her 23 times. She told emergency personnel to hurry because she was afraid she was going to die and identified her attacker.

• Lawyers USA
• September 08, 2008

• State v. Ray, (Ohio 2010)

Dying declaration; confrontation clause; excited utterance; Evid.R. 803(2); Evid.R. 804(B)(2).

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Dying Declaration

A statement by a person who is conscious and knows that death is imminent concerning what he or she believes to be the cause or ci...

• West's Encyclopedia of American Law
• Dou–Fre

• Woman Gets Life Sentence in Ice Pick Murder ; in a 'Dying Declaration,' Injured Woman Pointed Finger at 54-Year- Old Roommate.

XENIA -- Greene County Common Pleas Judge J. Timothy Campbell agreed with the victim's family and sentenced Sandra Matthews- Johnson to life in prison without parole for the ice pick slaying of her roommate Ottie Marie Tomlinson. Pamela Sue Tomlinson, Ottie Marie's daughter, told Campbell that Matthews-Johnson's "brutal" act has "traumatically" impacted her family "mentally, physically and financially.

• Dayton Daily News
• May 13, 2008

• 8th Circuit Says Dying Statements Can Be Used in Criminal Cases

A dying declaration is an exception to the right of criminal defendants to be able to confront their accusers, the 8th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Friday. No U.S. Supreme Court precedent exists on dying declarations. The high court has discussed the exception in at least one case, though it didn't apply in that case.

• Missouri Lawyers Media
• February 26, 2010

• State v. Duncan, (Ohio 2006)

Jury instruction on lesser included offense, right to confrontation, dying declaration.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Giles v. California, 554 U.S. (2008)

... the brink of death and aware that they were dying. Pp. 7-11. . . (c) Not only was California's prop...6, 62. The first of these were declarations made by a speaker who was both on the brink of dea...

• U.S. Supreme Court

• State v. Morales, (Ohio 2009)

CRIM. MISCELLANEOUS – COMPLICITY – EVIDENCE – PROSECUTOR: Under R.C. 2923.01(G), the trial court erred when it convicted the defendant of both complicity to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The defendant’s conviction for complicity to commit murder was supported by sufficient evidence, where a reasonable fact-finder could have determined beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had solicited and aided another in the shooting death of the victim. There was no error in the admission of a victim’s statement as a dying declaration: The state laid a proper foundation to show that the declarant had sensed that his death was imminent; and even if the statement was not a dying declaration, it was properly admitted as an excited utterance....

• Ohio Supreme Court

• A wavering bright line: how Crawford v. Washington denies defendants a consistent confrontation right.

...In particular, the dying declaration exception is often mentioned as a para...

• American Criminal Law Review
• Vol. 48 Nbr. 1, January 2011