People v. Owens

The court erred in precluding a defense witness from testifying that he heard the deceased announce, on the day of the shooting, that he planned to kill the defendant. The court incorrectly ruled that because the defendant did not know of the threat, the proffered testimony was inadmissible. The Court of Appeals has held that “the threats of the deceased against the defendant are admissible, whether communicated to the defendant or not. Even if the defendant was not aware of the threat, the threat still is probative of the deceased’s state of mind and bears, thus, on whether the deceased was…