[DOWNLOAD] "Commonwealth Pennsylvania v. Elgin L. Thornton" by Supreme Court of Pennsylvania * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

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eBook details

• Title: Commonwealth Pennsylvania v. Elgin L. Thornton
• Author : Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Release Date : January 02, 1981
• Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 66 KB

Description

This is a direct appeal from judgment of sentence of life imprisonment imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County upon conviction of murder of the first degree. Appellant, Elgin L. Thornton, raises one claim of error: that the trial court, over defense objection, improperly admitted an oral statement made by the victim on the evening before the killing. The trial court ruled the statement admissible on the ground that it was within the "state of mind" exception to the rule against hearsay. We conclude that, because the victims state of mind was not a factor in issue, the statement was immaterial and irrelevant to the prosecutions case and thus appellants objection should have been sustained. We also conclude that, when the statement is considered for its substantive truth, although material and relevant to the issue of appellants intent to kill, the statement could not have reasonably contributed to the jurys verdict. Since we find the erroneous admission of the statement to be harmless error we affirm. See Commonwealth v. Story, 476 Pa. 391, 383 A.2d 155 (1978).

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