Young v. United States
| Decision Date | 17 August 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 10444.,10444. |
| Citation | 391 A.2d 248 |
| Parties | John C. YOUNG, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Patrick J. Christmas, Washington, D. C., appointed by the court, was on the brief for appellant.
Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., and John A. Terry, Theodore A. Shmanda, and Ann P. Gailis, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief for appellee.
Before KELLY, GALLAGHER, and HARRIS, Associate Judges.
Appellant was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder for a fatal stabbing. D.C.Code 1973, § 22-2403. He contends that the trial court committed reversible error (1) by ruling that statements which had been made by the decedent concerning the stabbing were admissible as spontaneous utterances, and (2) by giving the jury a specific instruction concerning dying declarations at the conclusion of the testimony of three witnesses to the declarations, rather than after the first witness' testimony. We affirm.
On November 6, 1974, appellant spent most of the day at the home of John Norman. He drank much wine and whiskey with Norman, Joseph Johnson, and the decedent (Charles Clarke). At about midnight, Norman went to bed, leaving appellant, decedent, and Johnson in the kitchen.
Norman's testimony was that at about 5:00 a. m., he was aroused by a "rumbling downstairs." He proceeded downstairs to the kitchen. Finding no one in the house, he went to the front door. He looked across the street, and saw appellant and the decedent fighting. The decedent suddenly grabbed his side and ran away through an alley. Appellant then returned to the house.
Norman's son William, who also lived in the house, testified somewhat differently from his father. William Norman stated that he was aroused at "around five-thirty" in the morning by loud voices coming from his father's room. William went to his father's room and found him and appellant talking about the decedent's having broken some glass. The three went to the kitchen to look at the broken glass. While in the kitchen, appellant opened a drawer and pulled out a knife which he stuck "down in his side." The three proceeded to the front door, and when they reached it, appellant went into the street to meet the decedent, who was brandishing a trash can top. John and William Norman remained at the front door and watched from there. Appellant grabbed a pole from the fence gate and tried to hit the decedent with it, while the decedent attempted to ward off the blows with the trash can top. Appellant then struck the decedent across the knees, causing him to drop the trash can lid and retreat, limping, into an alley. Appellant took a few steps after the decedent and then returned to the house, where he replaced the knife in the kitchen drawer.
At about 5:50 a. m., two police officers in a marked cruiser were flagged down by an unidentified man who stated that the decedent had just been stabbed. The decedent and the unidentified man were in the street, approximately 400 feet from John Norman's house. The decedent was bleeding profusely, and he showed the officers a stab wound. The decedent stated that he had been stabbed by "Big Junior," which is appellant's nickname. He also said, "Give me your gun and I'll go get him," and "Just bandage me up so I can go and kill him."
The decedent was taken to the hospital. At about midnight on November 7, 1974, which was the day of the stabbing, the decedent's aunt, her daughter, and her niece visited him in the intensive care unit. During that visit, the decedent stated that he was in great pain and that he was "not going to make it." He instructed his aunt to give everyone his love. The decedent also made statements identifying his assailant and describing him as a stocky, baldheaded, brown-skinned man who lived with John Norman. The decedent died approximately eight hours after the visit from his relatives.
We first address appellant's claim that it was error for the trial court to admit into evidence as spontaneous utterances the decedent's on-the-scene statements to the two policemen concerning his stabbing. There is a well-recognized spontaneous utterance exception to the rule of nonadmissibility of hearsay statements. See McCormick, Evidence § 297 (2d ed. 1972); Wigmore, Evidence §§ 1745-64 (3d ed. 1940). We recently have enunciated the elements necessary for the application of the spontaneous utterance exception to the hearsay rule. In another case involving a statement by the victim of a fatal stabbing shortly after its occurrence, we identified the elements permitting the introduction of such evidence as
(1) the presence of a serious occurrence which causes a state of nervous excitement or physical shock in the declarant, (2) a declaration made within a reasonably short period of time after the occurrence so as to assure that the declarant has not reflected upon his statement or premeditated or constructed it, and (3) the presence of circumstances, which in their totality suggest spontaneity and sincerity of the remark. [Nicholson v. United States, D.C.App., 368 A.2d 561, 564 (1977).]
"What constitutes a spontaneous utterance depends upon the facts peculiar to each case and such utterance is admitted in the exercise of sound judicial discretion which is not disturbed on appeal unless clearly erroneous." Ibid. The decisive factor is whether the circumstances reasonably justify the conclusion that the remarks were not made under the impetus of reflection. Ibid.; United States v. Glenn, 154 U.S.App.D.C. 61, 64, 473 F.2d 191, 194 (1972). The fact that the statement was made in response to an inquiry does not demonstrate a lack of spontaneity. Nicholson v. United States, supra, at 564; United States v. Glenn, supra, 154 U.S.App.D.C. at 64, 473 F.2d at 194.
The facts of this case strongly support the conclusion that the statements made by the decedent to the police officers near the scene of the crime were not given under the impetus of reflection. The officers apparently came upon the decedent shortly after he had been stabbed.1 He was bleeding profusely from what proved to be a fatal wound. He was extremely excited and repeatedly asked the officers to let him go kill his...
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Hallums v. US, No. 98-CM-1354.
...Lyons v. United States, 683 A.2d 1080, 1082-83 (D.C.1996); Smith v. United States, 666 A.2d 1216, 1222-23 (D.C.1995); Young v. United States, 391 A.2d 248, 250 (D.C.1978), all cases in which the court upheld the admission as spontaneous declarations of statements in which assault victims id......
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LYONS v. U.S.
...and was "rolling on a doorstep in extreme pain"), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 137, 116 L.Ed.2d 104 (1991); Young v. United States, 391 A.2d 248, 250 (D.C. 1978) (declarant had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely); Nicholson v. United States, supra, 368 A.2d at 564 (declarant h......
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LYONS v. U.S., 89-CF-1145
..."I didn't know he was going to do that" and gave the name of the defendant as the shooter. 545 A.2d at 1221. In Young v. United States, 391 A.2d 248, 250 (D.C. 1978), the decedent had stated to police officers on the scene of his stabbing that "Big Junior" had stabbed him and had asked an o......
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Hallums v. United States, No. 98-CM-1354 (D.C. 2/12/2004)
...v. United States, 683 A.2d 1080, 1082-83 (D.C. 1996); Smith v . United States, 666 A.2d 121 6, 1222-23 (D.C. 1995); Young v. United States, 391 A.2d 248, 250 (D.C. 1978), all cases in which the court upheld the admission as spontaneous declarations of statements in which assault victims ide......