How have courts interpreted spontaneous statements by a witness in a murder case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Berry, B262964 (Cal. App. 2016):

traumatized by what she perceived: a shooting in her home, her daughter . . . lying on the floor mortally injured. These observations were clearly relevant to the circumstances of the shooting. Nothing indicated [the declarant] was insincere in her quite logical belief that defendant had shot the victims. At best, the issue of whether [the declarant] actually saw defendant fire the shots went to the weight of her statements, not their admissibility. [Citation.] Accordingly, [the declarant's] statements to both [her neighbor] and [a police officer] properly qualified as spontaneous statements." (People v. Blacksher (2011) 52 Cal.4th 769, 810-811.)

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