Smith v. State

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

Defendant was convicted of armed robbery, kidnapping and assault with intent to commit rape and was sentenced to fifteen years for armed robbery, and four-to-five and two-to-five-year sentences, respectively, for the other crimes, to run concurrently with the fifteen-year sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed.

We granted the writ of certiorari to examine the advisability of extending to criminal cases the admission of a declaration against penal interest, where the declarant is unavailable, as an exception to the hearsay evidence rule.

In Breeden v. Independent…