Does a dying declaration constitute an exception to the hearsay rule?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Ramirez, 246 Cal.Rptr.3d 482, 34 Cal.App.5th 823 (Cal. App. 2019):

We agree with the trial courts conclusion there was no evidence to support a finding the victim believed his death was imminent at the time the alleged statement was made. "A dying declaration constitutes an exception to the hearsay rule if the statement was made on personal knowledge ... and under a sense of immediately impending death . ( Evid. Code, 1242.) "This sense of impending death may be shown in any satisfactory mode, by the express language of the declarant, or be inspired from his evident danger, or the opinions of medical or other attendants stated to him, or from his conduct, or other circumstances in the case, all of which are resorted to in order to ascertain the state of the declarants mind." " ( People v. Monterroso (2004) 34 Cal.4th 743, 763, 22 Cal.Rptr.3d 1, 101 P.3d 956, italics added; see also People v. Sims (1993) 5 Cal.4th 405, 458, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 537, 853 P.2d 992 ["[t]he chief condition and characteristic of a dying declaration is the sense of immediately impending death "].)

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