California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Sanchez, 246 Cal.Rptr.3d 296, 439 P.3d 772, 7 Cal.5th 14 (Cal. 2019):
event perceived by the declarant and [w]as made spontaneously while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by such perception. [T]he basis for the circumstantial trustworthiness of spontaneous utterances is that in the stress of nervous excitement, the reflexive faculties may be stilled and the utterance may become the instinctive and uninhibited expression of the speakers actual impressions and belief. [Citation.] [] To be admissible, "(1) there must be some occurrence startling enough to produce ... nervous excitement and render the utterance spontaneous and unreflecting; (2) the utterance must have been before there has been time to contrive and misrepresent, i.e., while the nervous excitement may be supposed still to dominate and the reflective powers to be yet in abeyance; and (3) the utterance must relate to the circumstances of the occurrence preceding it." " ( People v. Lynch (2010) 50 Cal.4th 693, 751-752, 114 Cal.Rptr.3d 63, 237 P.3d 416.)
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