The police officers statements do constitute hearsay under the exception rule. The police officers were able to speak with Whip for 5-10 minutes before he was taken away by emergency medical services. During this time Whip was questioned by officers and he was able to tell an officer that Nae Nae had shot him at about 3am and that he had recognized him by his voice while he was having a conversation with him through the back door of Nae Nae’s house and said that as he walked away he was shot through the door. This falls under the hearsay exception rule in which states, “a statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition, or immediately thereafter” is admissible hearsay.
The dying declaration is admissible in exception to the hearsay rule because according to its definition, “a statement made by a declarant, who is now unavailable, who made the statement under a belief of certain or impending death, and the statement concerns the causes or circumstances of impending death” and Whip was considered to be dying by the officers during the time of his questioning so they took his statement as a dying declaration. If the judge declares the statements as not …show more content…
They can argue that this includes testimonial evidence in attempt to prosecute the accused because they did not go to the scene directly looking for Nae Nae, they went to the scene because of Whip and then he did his dying declaration in which the officers then proceeded to go in pursuit of Nae Nae. This is not a non-testimonial case because they were not looking for Nae Nae before the crime was committed. The judge should find Nae Nae guilty and admit the hearsay exception of the dying declaration