United States v. Gray
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
405 F.3d 227 (2005)
Josephine Gray (defendant) was accused of killing her first husband, her second husband Robert Gray, and Robert's killing accomplice, and was charged with mail and wire fraud over insurance proceeds she received from those deaths. At her fraud trial, the district court admitted several of Robert Gray's out-of-court statements about threats and prior assaults Gray had made against him, including his criminal complaint accusing her of assault, under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6)'s forfeiture-by-wrongdoing exception. Gray was convicted and sentenced to 40 years, and she appealed, arguing she had intended to silence Robert only regarding his assault complaint, not this later fraud trial.
Whether a defendant who wrongfully and intentionally renders a declarant unavailable as a witness in one proceeding forfeits the right to exclude that declarant's statements, on hearsay grounds, at that proceeding and any subsequent proceeding.