Three-year-old girl's comments admissible in father's murder trial

LAS VEGAS - A state district judge has ruled that comments a 3-year-old girl made after her mother's slaying will be admissible in her father's murder trial.

Fernando Hernandez' trial for the October 1999 murder of his wife, Donna Hernandez, is expected to begin July 10. The 38-year-old woman, a Clark County Family Court clerk, was beaten, stabbed numerous times and strangled.

The state is seeking the death penalty.

The defendant's 3-year-old daughter Ana Hernandez will not have to take the stand during the trial. However, among the statements jurors will hear is, ''Daddy dead my mommy.''

Although witnesses usually are not allowed to testify about comments made to them by others, there are exceptions to the hearsay rule. One exception is when a judge finds the comments are ''excited utterances'' - statements made in the heat of the moment when they are unlikely to be lies.

Prosecutors Robert Daskas and Stacy Kollins said the comments Ana Hernandez made to police at the time of her father's arrest fall under that exception.

Prosecutors said the girl had the ability to observe things, remember them and relate them - all of which are necessary for a child to be found competent to testify. They also said she understood the difference between truth and lies.

Three police officers, one Child Protective Services worker and the girl's grandmother, Ana Griego, took the stand to testify about what she told them.

Griego testified that her granddaughter told her that her daddy had ''dead'' her mommy. The police officers all testified the girl also had told them that ''daddy hurt mommy real bad.''

Judge Sally Loehrer decided Monday to allow all but one of the officers to testify about what the child said.

Fernando Hernandez was stopped on U.S. 95 near Searchlight early on the morning of Oct. 6, 1999, for driving erratically, police said.

After he reportedly blurted out ''Just shoot me, just kill me. I killed her,'' police found Donna Hernandez' body in her Las Vegas home.

An investigation revealed Donna Hernandez had obtained temporary and extended protective orders against her husband, from whom she had separated.

Fernando Hernandez also faces charges of burglary, sexual assault, kidnapping, drunken driving, felony speeding and unlawful sexual penetration of a dead person.