Cureton (Kenneth) v. State ( 2015 )

 This court "review [s] a district court's decision to admit or
exclude evidence for abuse of discretion." Chavez v. State, 125 Nev. 328,
344, 213 P.3d 476, 487 (2009). Evidence is inadmissible hearsay if it is an
out-of-court "statement offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter
asserted." See NRS 51.035.
"A statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind,
emotion, sensation or physical condition, such as intent, plan, motive,
design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health, is not inadmissible under
the hearsay rule." NRS 51.105(1). The state-of-mind exception only
applies if the declarant's then-existing state of mind is a relevant issue in
the case. See Shults v. State, 96 Nev. 742, 751, 616 P.2d 388, 394 (1980).
Here, what is relevant is Caren's state of mind at the moment
that she committed the larceny. Robinson v. Goldfield Merger Mines Co.,
46 Nev. 291, 303, 213 P. 103, 105 (1923) ("To convict of larceny, it is
necessary to find that the intent to steal existed at the time of the
taking."). If, at that moment, she declared, "I intend to turn this purse in,"
such a statement would be admissible. But a later declaration of a prior
mental state—a recollection of a state of mind—is not admissible under
the then-existing state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule.
"Declarations of intention, casting light upon the future, have been
sharply distinguished from declarations of memory, pointing backwards to
the past. There would be an end, or nearly that, to the rule against
hearsay if the distinction were ignored." Shepard v. United States, 290
U.S. 96, 105-06 (1933) (Cardozo, J.).
Because Caren's state of mind after the arrest is not relevant
to whether she had the intent to steal the purse when she took it, the
state-of-mind exception does not apply to this case. See Shults, 96 Nev. at
SUPREME COURT
OF
NEVADA
2
(D) 1947A 4004.
751, 616 P.2d at 394. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its
discretion by excluding the out-of-court statement. Accordingly, we
ORDER the judgment of conviction AFFIRMED.
Parraguirre
J.
J.
cc: Hon. Michael Villani, District Judge
Carl E. G. Arnold
Attorney General/Carson City
Clark County District Attorney
Eighth District Court Clerk
SUPREME COURT
OF
NEVADA
3
(0) 1947R peyo