Opinion
No. 98-0741
Opinion filed March 31, 1999 JANUARY TERM 1999
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Karen L. Martin, Judge; L.T. No. CJ 97-6644 JL.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Marcy K. Allen, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and James J. Carney, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
The appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting testimony under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. See § 90.803(2), Fla. Stat. (1997). We disagree and affirm.
Whether or not the declarant has the necessary state of mind for his or her statement to constitute an excited utterance is a preliminary question of fact for the court to decide. See Perry v. State, 675 So.2d 976, 979 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 684 So.2d 1352 (Fla. 1996). Furthermore, absent a showing of an abuse of discretion, a trial court's evidentiary ruling will not be disturbed on appeal. See Maggard v. State, 399 So.2d 973, 975 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1059, 102 S.Ct. 610 (1981). We find that the trial court acted within its discretion in admitting the witness's testimony under the excited utterance hearsay exception.
Affirmed.
WARNER, STEVENSON, JJ., and CONNER, BURTON C., Associate Judge, concur.