## Facts

- Frank Moore was shot several times and seriously injured.
- The prosecution alleged Winifred Mitchell Green arranged for Moore to be shot by hiring another person.
- Green was tried before a jury and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, and criminal solicitation.
- Over objection, the trial court admitted testimony from Green’s sister-in-law, Lela Mae Clark, about a domestic argument occurring weeks after the shooting.
- Clark testified Green’s wife accused Green that she “wasn’t scared of him just . . . because he had Frank [Moore] shot,” and that Green did not respond.
- The prosecution argued the wife’s accusation, combined with Green’s silence, was an implied (adoptive) admission of involvement in the shooting.
- Green appealed, arguing the testimony was inadmissible hearsay, did not satisfy adoptive-admission requirements, and was unfairly prejudicial.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred by admitting testimony about an accusatory out-of-court statement and the defendant’s silence as an adoptive admission.
2. Whether the evidence was improperly admitted as hearsay rather than as an adoptive admission based on the defendant’s conduct.
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the evidence despite a risk of unfair prejudice outweighing probative value.

## Decision

- The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments of conviction.
- The court held the testimony was properly admitted as an adoptive admission by silence.
- The court found no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s probative-value versus prejudice determination.
- The court further concluded that, even if error existed, it was not sufficiently prejudicial to warrant reversal given the other evidence of guilt.

## Legal Principles

- A defendant’s silence in the face of an accusation may be admissible as an adoptive admission when the defendant heard and understood the statement, the statement is one a reasonable person would deny if untrue, and the circumstances permitted a denial.
- When offered as an adoptive admission, the evidentiary significance is the defendant’s reaction (including silence) to the accusation, rather than the out-of-court statement treated in isolation as hearsay.
- Trial courts have discretion to admit evidence after weighing probative value against unfair prejudice; appellate review focuses on whether that discretion was abused.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Green’s convictions, holding that an accusation that he “had Frank shot,” coupled with his failure to deny it under circumstances calling for a response, was admissible as an adoptive admission and was not unfairly prejudicial under the trial court’s discretionary balancing.


People v. Green, 629 P.2d 1098 (Colo. App. 1981)