Green v. Georgia

442 U.S. 95 (1979)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Green (D) and Moore were indicted together, but tried separately for the rape and murder of Allen. D was found guilty, and a separate trial was had to determine whether he should be sentenced to death. At the second trial, D attempted to show that he was not present when Allen was killed and had not participated in her death. To this end, he attempted to introduce the testimony of Pasby, who had testified at Moore's trial that Moore had confessed to killing Allen after he had ordered D to run an errand. The trial court refused to allow the testimony as a declaration against interest since the state did not recognize the exception with respect to statements against penal interest. Following this exclusion, the state argued that, in the absence of direct evidence regarding the circumstances of the crime, the jury could infer that D had participated in the murder from the fact that more than one bullet had been fired into Allen's body.