State v. Bell

The conviction of Winston Bell for the gruesome murder of his wife, for burning her alive, is overturned because of the Court’s strict adherence to the rule of evidence that excludes hearsay testimony. Justice has not been served. The hearsay evidence admitted at trial, although technically inadmissible even under the state-of-mind exception, was nevertheless probative and trustworthy. The federal courts and the courts of twenty-nine of our sister states have now relieved the harshness of the hearsay rule by implementing a residual or omnibus exception that may be invoked, in general, when no…