Criminal appeal from convictions for two counts of first degree murder.
The court held that the deceased’s statement of intention and police evidence of a witness’s out-of-court identification were inadmissible hearsay, and clarified that traditional hearsay exceptions must conform to the principled approach of necessity and reliability.
The court further held that the jury instruction on reasonable doubt was deficient because it failed to explain that the criminal standard is higher than proof on a balance of probabilities and wrongly suggested the phrase had no special legal meaning.
A new trial was ordered.
