Suicide Note Ruled Admissible as a Dying Declaration

The Advocate reports that 19th JDC Judge Duke Welch will allow the admission of a suicide note allegedly written by a young woman before she committed suicide because it is "highly relevant" to the case. The decedent's parents have filed suit against a fraternity and one of its former members alleging that their daughter was given alcohol and/or drugs and raped at a fraternity party on February 6, 2001. The young woman was found hanged, along with a suicide note, on April 9, 2001.

Greg Rozas, the parents' lawyer, said it is evident that the suicide note was written immediately before her death because in one line she says, "I didn't know it would hurt this much,"--referring to the noose around her neck. The note gives the name of the man she says raped her and details how she tried in vain to get help before she says goodbye to her parents. A trial has not yet been scheduled, and Judge Welch urged the defense to appeal his ruling because he and attorneys in the case could find no other case in the state's history in which a suicide note was allowed as evidence in a civil trial.

Posted by AJR at June 2, 2004 07:20 AM