People v. Cockrell

Citations

• 2017 COA 125

Syllabus

The victim was shot 11 times and was found by bystanders, who asked him questions. The victim answered their questions but did not provide the shooter's name. On the way to the hospital, the victim identified Cockrell as the shooter to an officer who rode in the ambulance. The victim died soon thereafter during surgery. No DNA, fingerprint, or other forensic evidence tied Cockrell to the victim's murder. The primary evidence against him was the victim's dying declaration identifying Cockrell as the shooter and a bystander's statement that he saw a car leaving the area around the same time the victim was found that matched the description of the car Cockrell drove. The trial court denied Cockrell's motion to suppress the dying declaration and to find CRS § 13-25-119 unconstitutional. Cockrell was found guilty of first degree murder and two crime of violence sentence enhancers. On appeal, Cockrell contended that CRS § 13-25-119, the dying declaration statute, is unconstitutional on its face because it violates the Confrontation Clause. Dying declarations are an exception to the hearsay rule because of their guarantee of trustworthiness, and precluding their admission would in many cases result in a failure of justice. The Court of Appeals held that dying declarations are an exception to the Confrontation Clause and the dying declaration statute is constitutional. Cockrell also contended that the victim's statement did not satisfy the statutory requirements for admission of dying declarations. The first statutory requirement was satisfied because the parties agreed that the victim believed he was going to die he had 11 gunshot wounds and death was imminent, and he made statements indicating he feared he was going to die. As to the other three requirements, Cockrell argued that (1) the statements were not voluntary (2) the statements were made in response to questions calculated to lead the deceased to make the particular statement and (3) the victim was not of sound mi