State v. Stevens

SHARP, Chief Justice.

Prior to trial defendant moved to exclude testimony by Officers Wallace and Sharpe with reference to any statements which Belk made to them in the hospital. The grounds assigned were: (1) that the statements failed to meet the requirements of N.C. G.S. 8-51.1 (Cum. Supp. 1977) and our case law for the admission of dying declarations; and (2) that the admission of a decedent’s dying declaration denied defendant the right of confrontation guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. After conducting a voir dire the court ruled that…