This appeal is from Willie Jerome Williams’s convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.1 The evidence at trial showed Williams and another man brought Classie Patillo to a hospital dead from a gunshot wound, the bullet having entered her back and passed through both her lungs and her spine. One emergency room registration clerk testified Williams told her he and Patillo were looking at the gun and it went off as she tried to put it away. Another emergency room registration clerk testified Williams told her he and Patillo were looking at the gun and it discharged accidentally when he tried to take it from her to put it away. A police officer who interviewed Williams at the emergency room testified Williams said Patillo had taken the pistol from his hand and dropped it on the floor, causing it to discharge. Two witnesses who were in the house when the shooting occurred testified they heard Williams and Patillo in an adjoining room arguing and then having sex. One witness testified she heard Patillo scream Williams’s name, then heard a loud bang, following which Williams came to the other couple’s room and said Patillo had shot herself. The other witness who was in the house when the shooting occurred testified Williams told him he dropped the weapon when Patillo grabbed it and it fired upon hitting the floor. A firearms examiner testified the weapon had to be cocked to fire and could not accidentally fire by being dropped. Forensic testimony established the bullet was fired from a distance of two to four inches and went through Patillo’s body from back to front, right to left, and down. Three friends of Patillo’s were permitted to testify over Williams’s hearsay objection to instances of prior difficulty between Williams and Patillo. Williams testified the shooting was an accident caused by Patillo pulling on the hand in which he held the weapon as she implored him not to leave. He explained his various inconsistent statements, including one in which he admitted he cocked the gun and had his finger on the trigger as he struggled with Patillo, as having been made while he was in shock and denial regarding his possession of the gun. 1. The evidence adduced at trial, as summarized above, was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find Williams guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offenses for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.
2. The State presented three witnesses to establish the existence of prior difficulties between Williams and Patillo. One of those witnesses was permitted to testify only to her personal observation of difficulties between Williams and Patillo, but the other two were permitted to testify about declarations by Patillo concerning Williams’s abuse of her. Williams contends the trial court erred in permitting the hearsay testimony to be admitted under the necessity exception to the hearsay rule, and we agree. The two prerequisites for the admission of hearsay because of necessity are: a finding that the hearsay is necessary, and a finding that the declarant’s hearsay statement is surrounded by particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Cit. . . . The hearsay declarant’s death or unavailability, in and of itself, does not satisfy the “necessary” component . . . . To satisfy the requirement that the hearsay be “necessary,” in addition to showing the hearsay declarant’s unavailability due to death, privilege, or other reason, the proponent of the hearsay must also show “that the statement is relevant to a material fact and that the statement is more probative on that material fact than other evidence that may be procured and offered.” Cit. . . . After the completion of the three-pronged examination of whether the hearsay is “necessary,” the trial court must then examine whether the hearsay statement is surrounded by “particularized guarantees of trustworthiness,” that is, whether there is “something present which the law considers a substitute for the oath of the declarant and his cross examination by the party against whom the hearsay is offered.” Cit. Absent a showing of particular guarantees of trustworthiness or indicia of reliability, the proffered hearsay must be excluded from evidence. Cit. Clark v. State , 271 Ga. 6 5 515 SE2d 155 1999.
