Is evidence of a statement made by a dying person respecting the cause and circumstances of her death not inadmissible by the hearsay rule?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Kincaid v. Kincaid, 127 Cal.Rptr.3d 863, 197 Cal.App.4th 75 (Cal. App. 2011):

Section 1242 provides: "Evidence of a statement made by a dying person respecting the cause and circumstances of [her] death is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule if the statement was made upon [her] personal knowledge and under a sense of immediately impending death." Underlying the exception is the notion that statements made by a person on the verge of death have a substantial guarantee of trustworthiness. (See People v. Dallen (1913) 21 Cal.App. 770, 781, 132 P. 1064 ["The very solemnity of the circumstances under which a declaration in extremis is made is very justly considered by the law as creating an obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath in a court of justice."].) Though it is not necessary that death take place immediately or even soon after the statement is made (see

[127 Cal.Rptr.3d 874]

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