State v. McNeely
Supreme Court of Oregon
8 P.3d 212 (2000)
Michael McNeely (defendant) was charged with aggravated murder. At trial, a jailhouse informant named Thompson testified that a fellow inmate had confessed to choking and killing the victim, but Thompson could not identify McNeely in court as that inmate. Evidence showed McNeely and Thompson had met in jail years earlier, and McNeely had since gained 25 pounds and shaved his mustache. The trial court admitted Thompson's testimony, finding a reasonable jury could conclude McNeely was the person Thompson had spoken to despite the courtroom identification failure.
Whether a court should admit evidence with relevancy conditional on a fact if a reasonable jury could find that a preliminary question of the fact exists.