Legal Topics

Criminal Law — Theft — Service Dog — Evidence — Hearsay — 911 Call Made By Victim Of Theft Is Not Inadmissible Testimonial Statement Under Confrontation Clause Where Primary Purpose Of Call Was To Summon Assistance From Police Due To Recent Thef

Oct 08th, 2019 in News by admin

Criminal law — Theft — Service dog — Evidence — Hearsay — 911 call made by victim of theft is not inadmissible testimonial statement under Confrontation Clause where primary purpose of call was to summon assistance from police due to recent theft of service dog — Exceptions — Excited utterances —

Victim’s statements during 911 call describing what occurred, where it occurred, and what evidence of crime was available were offered for truth of matters asserted and are hearsay — Where victim called 911 thirty minutes after theft, victim’s demeanor during call sounds calm and factual, and state offered no evidence other than recording of call to establish that call constituted excited utterance, state failed to meet its burden to establish that call was excited utterance — Motion in limine is granted