State of Oregon, Respondent on Review v. Cornelius Key Davis, Petitioner on Review

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court held that the trial court erred in excluding, as too remote, the murder victim's pre-March 1996 statements about her suicidal obsession with defendant, which supported defendant's sole-defense theory that she shot herself; the state conceded on review that the statements were relevant under OEC 401 and admissible under the OEC 803(3) state-of-mind exception, and the trial court had made no OEC 403 ruling. The court also clarified that Oregon's constitutional standard for affirmance despite trial error under Article VII (Amended), section 3, is a single inquiry — whether there is little likelihood that the particular error affected the verdict — rejecting the bifurcated test that adds an independent finding of substantial and convincing evidence of guilt. Applying that test, the court concluded the exclusion was not harmless because the excluded statements were qualitatively different from the admitted evidence and went to the heart of defendant's theory, and it reversed and remanded for a new trial. No separate opinions were filed.