People v. Smith

Opinion

ARABIAN, J.

Introduction

John of Gaunt:

“O! but they say the tongues of dying men

“Enforce attention like deep harmony:

“Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain

“For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.”

The dying declaration stands as one of the earliest recognized exceptions to the rule excluding most hearsay evidence from trial proceedings, and the foundation for this exception is deeply rooted in policy considerations of human philosophy and psychology. Yet, since well before the enactment of the Evidence Code in 1967, appellate courts have not addressed the…