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‘Deathbed testimony’ about UFOs given by former CIA official

BStrong said:
I can't help thinking of the advice I heard somewhere - if you're injured, and don't have health insurance, shout out "I killed JFK!" and then fake passing out in front of the doctors - you'll get the best medical care money can buy.
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I can't help calling BS on this. What possible result could this have, especially if you're not old enough to have been credibly involved?
 
CptColumbo said:
I have been at the side of only one deathbed in my time, and that person was so full of pain killers that half of what she said made no sense.

It was my Grandmother and we were actually hoping she would reveal some family secrets before she went, but she took them to the grave.
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That shouldn't stop you from finding out. If you want to know if there is an M or J sound in her name or whether or not you bought a refrigerator or like Valerie Harper then any reputable medium can help. Beyond that, you're on you own.
 
I think I'm going to spend the rest of my life making up the most outrageous lie, just so that I can tell it to someone on my deathbed.
 
Stray Cat said:
You got an example of that actually happening?
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What, dying declarations being given a fair amount of evidentiary value? They are. They can get around heresy rules with them.

In addition, dying declaration is a statement that should be attached with certain extent of weight by the court after being admitted as relevant fact. This could be reflected under Para C of s32. It used to show that there is a rationale behind the admission of dying declaration. Any dying declaration made against the proprietary and pecuniary interest of the maker could be admissible even it is mere a hearsay statement. It is not only legally relevant but also could be logically relevant as ordinary man would not likely to make any statement to his own detriment unless it is true.
http://evidencejournalist.weebly.com/1/post/2012/12/hearsay-admissibility-of-dying-declaration.html

I don't know of cases offhand that have been decided by DD's.

ETA: Oops, wrong "heresy"
 
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Fudbucker said:
What, dying declarations being given a fair amount of evidentiary value? They are. They can get around heresy rules with them.

ETA: Oops, wrong "heresy"
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They still aren't given any extra weight. It's just that once someone is dead, they can't actually testify directly. And it's not limited to deathbed declarations. There are a number of exceptions to the hearsay rule; most but not all involve "unavailable declarants", and death is far from the only reason why someone might be unavailable.

Law and the Multiverse, a humorous blog about legal issues in comic books, run by a pair of actual lawyers who happen to like comic books, covered the "unavailable declarant" issue recently, in an article about the comic, Batman: Year One. It's a pretty light and entertaining introduction to the topic for those who don't want to read the actual Federal Rules of Evidence themselves. (For those who do, here's the link to FRE Rule 804.)
 
Fudbucker said:
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I don't know of cases offhand that have been decided by DD's...
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So that's a "no" then.

Dying declarations can be used to confirm facts that are already in evidence but not as a way to introduce unverifiable and hitherto unknown information.
They have no evidentiary value in and of themselves.
 
Stray Cat said:
So that's a "no" then.

Dying declarations can be used to confirm facts that are already in evidence but not as a way to introduce unverifiable and hitherto unknown information.
They have no evidentiary value in and of themselves.
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Um, while you're closer to being correct than Fudbucker (dying declarations have no special significance that causes a court to treat them with extra deference), a dying declaration still means that the witness is unavailable, and therefore, all the standard rules for unavailable witnesses listed in FRE 804 (which is a superset of general list of exceptions to the hearsay rule listed in FRE 807) apply.

So technically, you guys are both wrong. Dying declarations are neither treated specially, nor automatically dismissed as hearsay.

eta: two of the most interesting exceptions are: 804(b)(2), which basically covers testimony from someone who is dying about the cause or circumstances of their death and 804(b)(6), which covers testimony against a party who wrongfully made the witness unavailable (a way to deal with witness-tampering).

eta x2: on the other hand, absolutely nothing in the FRE would give any extra credence to a dying declaration about the existence of little green men! (Unless they were the cause of death.) :)
 
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xtifr said:
Um, while you're closer to being correct than Fudbucker (dying declarations have no special significance that causes a court to treat them with extra deference), a dying declaration still means that the witness is unavailable, and therefore, all the standard rules for unavailable witnesses listed in FRE 804 (which is a superset of general list of exceptions to the hearsay rule listed in FRE 807) apply.

So technically, you guys are both wrong. Dying declarations are neither treated specially, nor automatically dismissed as hearsay.

eta: two of the most interesting exceptions are: 804(b)(2), which basically covers testimony from someone who is dying about the cause or circumstances of their death and 804(b)(6), which covers testimony against a party who wrongfully made the witness unavailable (a way to deal with witness-tampering).

eta x2: on the other hand, absolutely nothing in the FRE would give any extra credence to a dying declaration about the existence of little green men! (Unless they were the cause of death.) :)
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I stand corrected.

But I do think a jury will take a DD more seriously. Most people are religious, and probably don't want their last words to be a lie.
 
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