Hearsay exception; MRE 804(b)(2) (dying declaration); Whether the victim was in extremis & believed that his death was impending

The court affirmed the trial court’s ruling the statements at issue were inadmissible under MRE 804(b)(2). The issue was whether the trial court correctly suppressed purported dying declarations made by victim-W that identified defendants-Lowe and Smith as responsible for the shooting that led to W’s death. The court held that given the conflicting evidence, “it was not outside the range of reasonable and principled outcomes for the trial court to conclude that the surrounding circumstances, in totality, did not clearly establish that [W] was in extremis and believed that his death was impending at the time of his various statements.” The record revealed a lack of any sense of urgency on W’s part to disclose the identity of his assailants. The court found it significant that W “made his first clear indication of concern for his possible death at least one day after his final identifying statement, and only after an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from the ventilator.”