McHugh, J.:

This is an appeal by David W. Kaufman from his conviction of first degree murder in the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia. Upon the jury's recommendation of a sentence of life without mercy, the trial court so sentenced Appellant by order entered March 23, 2009. On appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court improperly admitted into evidence the victim's diary and certain statements by the victim to others, both of which recounted alleged threats and acts of violence by Appellant towards the victim during the weeks preceding her death.

Upon careful consideration of the arguments of the parties and the applicable legal authority, and for the reasons discussed below, we reverse Appellant's conviction and sentence and remand this case for a new trial.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

In the early morning hours of December 18, 2007, Appellant's wife, Martha Kaufman, was found dead in the closet of her bedroom as the result of a gunshot wound to the left side of her head. A.22 caliber pistol was found in her left hand.1 The medical examiner determined that the time of death was between noon and 4:00 p.m. the preceding day. At trial, Medical Examiner Dr. Zia Sabet testified that the manner of death was undetermined; in other words, Dr. Sabet was unable to determine if the victim died as a result of a homicide or suicide.

Police found the victim's body after the couples' children, Kristy and Zachary, notified them that they were unable to get in touch with their mother by telephone or locate her in the family home even though her car was parked there. It is undisputed that the victim suffered from depression and anxiety and rarely left the house.

When police arrived at the family's house in the early morning hours of December 18th, Appellant was there and invited the officers inside. Appellant told police that he had dropped off the victim at Wal Mart at 1:00 p.m., where she was to do some shopping and then meet Kristy at the nearby Toys R Us store where she worked. According to Appellant, the victim intended to get a ride home with Kristy after she finished her shift. Appellant told police that he arrived at the house at approximately 9:00 p.m., not long after Kristy arrived to look for her mother.2

The police searched the home and eventually found the victim's body in the closet of her bedroom.3 After the body was found — but before they informed Appellant that they found it — the police questioned Appellant further about the Wal Mart story. When police advised him that Wal Mart surveillance video would have been able to record whether his wife safely made it into the store, Appellant admitted that the story had been fabricated. It was at that time that Appellant told police that his wife told him she had cancer4; that she was not going to undergo treatment; and that she was planning to kill herself on December 17th. According to Appellant, his wife had threatened suicide on prior occasions and thus, he was "skeptical" about her current plan to end her life. Appellant stated that she told him to tell the Wal Mart story to anyone who asked and also advised him that he should be sure to have an alibi.

When questioned further by police, Appellant stated that Zachary left the house for work at approximately 12:30 p.m.5 and, not long after that, Appellant also left the house to go to his mother's home to bake cookies.6 Appellant maintains that when he left the house, his wife was still alive and was sitting in the recliner where she spent much of her time and where she often slept. At trial, a surveillance video of a local McDonald's showed Appellant going through the drive-thru at 12:59 p.m. Appellant's mother, Geneva Kaufman, testified that Appellant brought her lunch from McDonald's and that he arrived at her house sometime after 1:00. Appellant told police that when he returned home that night at 9:00 p.m., Kristy was there looking for her mother.7

At trial, there was virtually no physical evidence linking Appellant to the death of his wife. Although gunshot residue testing conducted on the victim was positive for gunshot residue on her left hand, testing conducted on Appellant's body, clothing and various other items taken from the home were negative.8 Testing for blood identification on Appellant's clothing and the various other items taken from the home were negative for the presence of blood. Furthermore, neither Appellant's nor the victim's fingerprints were found on either the gun or the ammunition magazine and there was no evidence that these items had been "wiped clean." Testing on scrapings taken from underneath the victim's fingernails revealed only her own DNA. Luminol testing was conducted on the closet where the victim's body was found in order to determine if blood or other trace evidence had been cleaned up. The results of this testing were negative.

A large part of the State's case against Appellant stemmed primarily from the dysfunctional nature of the marriage between Appellant and the victim. The testimony of the couples' children at trial revealed that Appellant and his wife, though living in the same house, had been estranged for more than ten years. The children testified that their parents lived separate lives and never did anything or went anywhere together. During the summer of 2007, Appellant began an affair with another woman and, as he told police, was contemplating divorce up until the time his wife told him she had cancer. In late October or early November of 2007, the victim attempted suicide by sitting in her car with the motor running and the garage door closed. Upon being found by her children, she told them not to tell Appellant. As indicated above, the victim did not often leave the house. Physically, the home was in disarray and disrepair. The victim suffered from depression and anxiety and although she was prescribed several medications to treat these illnesses, nine unfilled prescriptions were found in her purse during the police investigation.9

The State presented evidence at trial that Appellant and his wife had incurred considerable financial debt, which caused further stress on the marriage. Approximately several months before his wife's death, Appellant learned that his employer, NOVA Chemicals, would be closing in January 2008. The evidence revealed that there were two life insurance policies in place payable to the surviving spouse upon the death of either Appellant or his wife. The State argued that the proceeds of these policies would have gone a long way towards relieving the couples' debt. One of the policies had been taken out through Appellant's employer several years previously and, according to the State's theory at trial, Appellant killed his wife before NOVA's January 2008 closure in order to collect the proceeds from that life insurance policy.10

Though the couple's relationship was, by all accounts, dysfunctional, both Kristy and Zachary testified that they never witnessed any physical or verbal abuse by Appellant towards their mother during the course of their marriage. To the contrary, they testified that Appellant kept to himself when he was at home and that there was never much conversation among the family.11 Zachary acknowledged that arguments between his parents were almost always instigated by his mother. Both children testified about one fight in particular in which their mother and Kristy yelled and cursed at Appellant for an hour primarily about his girlfriend.12

As discussed in more detail below, a large part of the State's case relied upon out-of-court statements made by the victim to her children and to her daughter's boyfriend, and upon a more than sixty page diary written by the victim ostensibly during the weeks preceding her death.

Victim's statements to others

Over Appellant's hearsay objection, the State elicited testimony from Kristy, Zachary, and Kristy's boyfriend, Jimmy Schreckengoest, regarding certain statements the victim made to them of alleged threats and acts of violence by Appellant towards her during the weeks preceding her death. Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy all testified that in early December, the victim told them that Appellant threatened her with a gun. According to Kristy, she spoke with her mother the same evening the incident allegedly occurred. Kristy testified that during a routine telephone conversation,

Kristy testified that she did not call the police or confront Appellant about the incident because her mother told her not to.

That same evening, following Kristy's telephone call with her mother, Jimmy drove Kristy to her parent's home so that she could gather some clothing to stay over at Jimmy's house. While he sat in his car outside the house waiting for Kristy, her mother walked out to speak to Jimmy. Jimmy testified that although the two had never before been introduced, she told him that the reason she wanted Krist[y] to stay with me overnight was because [Appellant] and her had gotten into an altercation earlier in the day. She had been admittedly giving him a hard time about his girlfriend.

In recounting the same incident to Zachary late at night on December 16th, the day before she died, his mother "mentioned that at one point, [Appellant] had held a gun to her head and said `This can shoot through a pig skin.' Zachary testified that her demeanor "[f]or the first part of it, she seemed, you know, pretty okay. She was pretty calm about it. But after a while, I mean, you could tell it was starting to affect her a little bit when she was talking to me about it, so . . . [.]"

Zachary and Jimmy also testified about another incident the victim recounted to them in which Appellant allegedly attempted to strangle her with a cord. Jimmy testified that during the previously-described conversation he had with the victim in early December, she told him that Appellant "had tried to strangle her with an object and she had to kick him to get away from him; and then after she'd gotten away, that things went back to normal[.]" When asked what type of "object" Appellant used, Jimmy testified that "[t]he word she used, I believe, was cord, but I don't — she didn't say anything really specific."13 Jimmy further testified that the victim did not cry or yell when she recounted this incident, rather "[s]he just seemed irritated more than anything, like it was just something that bothered her. She wasn't really, I would say, upset or angry."

Zachary also testified that on the Thanksgiving Day preceding his mother's death, she told him that she had wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner for him but that Appellant would not let her. She also showed him several marks around her neck and claimed Appellant tried to strangle her. Zachary described the marks as "red, but they didn't look like they had just happened." Indeed, he testified that she did not indicate when the alleged strangulation had actually occurred. Zachary further testified that his mother cried as she showed him the marks around her neck.14

Although Appellant objected to the admission of the foregoing statements by the victim to Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy on hearsay grounds, the trial court stated that it would admit them pursuant to this Court's decision in State v. Sutphin, 195 W.Va. 551, 466 S.E.2d 402 (1995).

Victim's diary

Over Appellant's hearsay objection, the State also introduced at trial the victim's diary. The diary was approximately sixty-three pages in length, with undated entries written by the victim purportedly during the weeks preceding her death. The diary was located in the victim's sock drawer and was found by Kristy and given to police. It was read into evidence by one of the investigating officers. Included in the victim's diary were statements she wrote describing the alleged incidents previously discussed and testified to by Kristy, Zachary and Jimmy.15 Additionally, the victim wrote that Appellant was angry about her unsuccessful suicide attempt and that "he was crystal clear that he was disappointed that I did not `get it right.'" About her prior suicide attempt, the victim wrote that

(Footnotes added)

According to the victim's diary, she and Appellant argued about "the same old thing that he's been telling me a lot — which is that I'm worth more to him dead — than alive." The victim also wrote that "[t]onight he said `you just won't f****** die'" and

The victim further recounted a discussion with Appellant which began about finances and

(Footnote added)

In addition to the foregoing, the victim's diary also included countless entries about random events and thoughts. Many of the entries portray Appellant in a very unfavorable light, while others portray the victim in a very favorable one. By way of example only, the victim wrote that she loves and respects Appellant's mother19; that Appellant spent the money due on their homeowner's insurance on his girlfriend20; that because of Appellant, Kristy never wants to get married21; that she is proud to be her children's mother22; and that she avoided Appellant on his birthday.23

Additionally, the victim wrote about incidents considered by the trial court to be "routine daily things occurring in [her] life" which the State went to great lengths to corroborate with evidence presented during several hearings in this case.24 It was based upon entries of this nature and their corroboration by the State that the trial court ruled the entire sixty-three page diary to be trustworthy25 and, therefore, admissible,26 primarily under the residual hearsay exception, West Virginia Rule of Evidence 803(24),27 and "to a lesser degree," under W.Va. R. Evid. 803(3),28 the hearsay exception for "then existing mental, emotional or physical condition."

Appellant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Appellant now appeals his conviction and sentence.

II. Standard of Review

It is well settled that a trial court's rulings on the admissibility of evidence, "including those affecting constitutional rights, are reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard." State v. Marple, 197 W.Va. 47, 51, 475 S.E.2d 47, 51 (1996). In syllabus point one of State v. Shrewsbury, 213 W.Va. 327, 329, 582 S.E.2d 774, 776 (2003), this Court explained: "`"Rulings on the admissibility of evidence are largely within a trial court's sound discretion and should not be disturbed unless there has been an abuse of discretion." State v. Louk, 171 W.Va. 639, [643,] 301 S.E.2d 596, 599 (1983).' Syl. Pt. 2, State v. Peyatt, 173 W.Va. 317, 315 S.E.2d 574 (1983)." Accord Syl. pt. 4, State v. Rodoussakis, 204 W.Va. 58, 61, 511 S.E.2d 469, 472 (1998) ("A trial court's evidentiary rulings, as well as its application of the Rules of Evidence, are subject to review under an abuse of discretion standard.").

III. Discussion

We first address the trial court's ruling which admitted into evidence the victim's undated sixty-three page diary. Appellant argues that the diary was testimonial in nature and, as such, its admission into evidence violated his right to confront the witnesses against him, pursuant to Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), and State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006). As discussed in more detail below, we do not agree with Appellant's contention that the diary was testimonial; however, we do find that the trial court improperly admitted the sixty-three page diary into evidence and, based thereon, we reverse Appellant's conviction and sentence and remand for a new trial.

A.

Under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14 of Article III of the West Virginia Constitution, an accused is guaranteed the right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him. As this Court held in syllabus point one of State v. James Edward S.,

184 W.Va. 408, 409, 400 S.E.2d 843, 844 (1990), overruled on other grounds by, State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006). See Syl. Pt. 3, State v. Martisko, 211 W.Va. 387, 388, 566 S.E.2d 274, 275 (2002). "`An essential purpose of the Confrontation Clause is to ensure an opportunity for cross-examination. In exercising this right, an accused may cross-examine a witness to reveal possible biases, prejudices or motives.'" Syl. Pt. 2, in part, State v. Phillips, 194 W.Va. 569, 572, 461 S.E.2d 75, 78 (1995) (quoting Syl. Pt. 1, in part, State v. Mason, 194 W.Va. 221, 460 S.E.2d 36 (1995), overruled on other grounds by, State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006).).

In State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006), this Court explained that in the United States Supreme Court case of Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), abrogated on other grounds by Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), "the Confrontation Clause allowed the out-of-court statement of a witness to be admitted against an accused if it was shown that the witness was unavailable for trial, and that the witness's statement bore `adequate "indicia of reliability."'" Mechling, 219 W.Va. at 371, 633 S.E.2d at 316. In Mechling, we discussed a trilogy of cases decided by this Court in which we interpreted and applied Roberts. First, in syllabus point two of James Edward S., we held that

184 W.Va. at 410, 400 S.E.2d at 845. See Mechling, at syl. pt. 3, 219 W.Va. at 368, 633 S.E.2d at 313.

After our decision in James Edward S., we considered the case of State v. Mason, 194 W.Va. 221, 460 S.E.2d 36 (1995), overruled on other grounds by, State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006). In Mason, we expanded our holding regarding the reliability of a witness's out-of-court statement and concluded that there need be no independent assessment of the statement if it was admissible under a firmly-rooted hearsay exception. See Mechling, 219 W.Va. at 372, 633 S.E.2d at 317. As we held in syllabus point six of Mason,

194 W.Va. at 224, 460 S.E.2d at 39. See Mechling at syl. pt. 4, 219 W.Va. at 368, 633 S.E.2d at 318.

The third case we discussed in Mechling was State v. Kennedy, 205 W.Va. 224, 517 S.E.2d 457 (1999), overruled on other grounds by, State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006), in which we concluded that "the Confrontation Clause test espoused in Roberts applied only to out-of-court statements made by a witness in a prior judicial proceeding." Mechling, 219 W.Va. at 372, 633 S.E.2d at 317. We thus held in syllabus point 2 of Kennedy that

205 W.Va. at 226, 517 S.E.2d at 459. See Mechling, at syl. pt. 5, 219 W.Va. at 368, 633 S.E.2d at 313.

Ultimately, our task in Mechling was to address the United States Supreme Court's decision in Crawford, which was decided after Roberts and after this Court's decisions in James Edward S., Mason and Kennedy.

We recognized in Mechling that, pursuant to Crawford, "testimonial" out-of-court statements are barred from admission under the Confrontation Clause: "`Testimonial statements of witnesses absent from trial have been admitted only where the declarant is unavailable, and only where the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.'" Mechling, 219 W.Va. at 372, 633 S.E.2d at 317 (quoting Crawford, 541 U.S. at 59). "The Confrontation Clause is a rule of procedure, not a rule of evidence. `If there is one theme that emerges from Crawford, it is that the Confrontation Clause confers a powerful and fundamental right that is no longer subsumed by the evidentiary rules governing the admission of hearsay statements.'" Id. (quoting United States v. Cromer, 389 F.3d 662, 679 (6th Cir. 2004).).

In Mechling, we further recognized that the Crawford Court overruled Roberts because Roberts erroneously "allowed a jury to hear evidence that was untested by the adversarial process, and admission of the evidence was based on a mere judicial determination of reliability, a determination usually made under the rules of hearsay." Id., 219 W.Va. at 372-78, 633 S.E.2d at 317-18 (citation omitted). Following Crawford then, this Court held in syllabus point 6 of Mechling that

219 W.Va. at 368, 633 S.E.2d at 313.

Thus, we also overruled our decisions in James Edward S., Mason and Kennedy to the extent they relied upon Roberts and permitted the admission of a testimonial statement by an unavailable witness regardless of whether the criminal defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine. Accordingly, we held in syllabus point 7 of Mechling that

219 W.Va. at 368, 633 S.E.2d at 313.

Under Crawford and this Court's decision in Mechling, "only `testimonial statements' cause the declarant to be a `witness' subject to the constraints of the Confrontation Clause. Non-testimonial statements by an unavailable declarant, on the other hand, are not precluded from use by the Confrontation Clause." Mechling, 219 W.Va. at 318, 633 S.E.2d at 373 (emphasis added). See State v. Jessica Jane M., 226 W.Va. 242, ___, 700 S.E.2d 302, 310 (2010). In an effort to establish some parameters for what would constitute a "testimonial" out-of-court statement, this Court looked to the United States Supreme Court's post-Crawford decision in Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (2006), for additional guidance. In syllabus points eight and nine of Mechling, we concluded the following:

219 W.Va. at 368-69, 633 S.E.2d at 313-14.

In the case sub judice, Appellant maintains that although the victim's diary does not neatly fit into the foregoing parameters set forth in Mechling, the diary, nevertheless, was testimonial for Confrontation Clause purposes. Appellant argues that during the time the diary was written, the couple's marriage was severely strained and Appellant had contemplated divorce. The victim was angry with him for having an extramarital affair and Appellant maintains she fabricated statements in her diary for the purpose of portraying Appellant in a bad light at his murder trial following her death by suicide. According to Appellant, Mechling does not provide an exhaustive list of all conceivable statements which are "testimonial" in nature29 and thus, the victim's diary should be so classified and ruled inadmissible under the Confrontation Clause. Appellant's argument, while creative, is speculative at best. First, the statements in the diary were clearly not made to a law enforcement officer in the course of an interrogation. Furthermore, the circumstances surrounding the making of the statements do not objectively indicate that there is no ongoing emergency30, and that the primary purpose of the victim's diary was to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution. Id., at syl. pt. 9. Appellant's arguments notwithstanding, this Court is not persuaded that the victim's diary was made under circumstances which would have led her reasonably to believe that the diary would be available for use at a later trial date. Mechling, at syl. pt. 8. Therefore, we conclude that the victim's diary was nontestimonial for purposes of Confrontation Clause analysis and that, accordingly, the trial court committed no error on this issue.

B.

Unlike testimonial out-of-court statements, nontestimonial statements may be admissible in a criminal trial if it is shown that the witness was unavailable for trial, and that the witness's statement bore adequate indicia of reliability. See Mechling, 219 W.Va.at 371, 633 S.E.2d at 316.31 In syllabus point five of Edward James S., we held that

However, where such statements are not offered under a hearsay exception considered to be "firmly-rooted," then the statements are presumptively unreliable and must be excluded "at least absent a showing of particularized guarantees of trustworthiness.'" Edward James S., 184 W.Va. at 414, 400 S.E.2d at 849 (internal quotations omitted ).

In the case before us, the admissibility requirement that the declarant be unavailable for cross-examination at trial is clearly satisfied: the declarant of the sixty-three page diary at issue is the victim. Infinitely more problematic, however, is the task of determining whether the trial court properly concluded that the diary fell within either or both W.Va. R. Evid. 803(3), the state of mind hearsay exception, and W.Va.R. Evid. 803(24), known as the residual hearsay exception. In admitting virtually the entire diary into evidence,32 the trial court, for all intents and purposes, treated the sixty-three page narrative as one statement. Thus, it is immeasurably difficult, if not impossible, to review the trial court's evidentiary ruling on appeal.

It is well settled that

Syl. Pt. 3, State v. Morris, 227 W.Va. 76, ___, 705 S.E.2d 583, 585 (2010). As we have recounted in this opinion — though we have recounted only a sampling of the admitted narrative — the victim's lengthy diary has many components. Several statements written in the diary are potentially non-hearsay. Additionally, it is clear that there are several statements that Appellant threatened the victim or committed physical abuse towards her, while other entries may be characterized as statements of her state of mind, emotion and physical condition. Still, the victim wrote other statements of memory or belief about past events. The diary also consists of statements of the victim's thoughts, feelings, and observations not only about Appellant but about her children and others.

In State v. Mason, supra, this Court determined that W.Va. R. Evid. 804(b)(3), the statement against interest hearsay exception, does not allow for the admissibility of self-exculpatory statements even if they are made within a broader narrative that is generally self-inculpatory. We explained in Mason that

194 W.Va. at 230, 460 S.E.2d at 45 (emphasis added). See Syl. Pt. 2, In re: Anthony Ray Mc., 200 W.Va. 312, 315, 489 S.E.2d 289, 292 (1997) ; Phillips, 194 W.Va. at 585, 461 S.E.2d at 91. Although Mason and the United States Supreme Court case of Williamson specifically involved Rule 804(b)(3), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Canan subsequently concluded that the definition of the term "statement" in Rule 801(a) also extends to the other hearsay exceptions. 48 F.3d 954, 960 (6th Cir. 1995). In Canan, the court stated that

Id. (Footnote added) The court in Canan thus found that the term "statement" means "a single declaration or remark" for purposes of Rule 804(b)(5) of the Federal Rules of Evidence (the residual hearsay exception). When ruling upon the admissibility of a narrative under that rule, the Canan court concluded that a court "must examine it sentence by sentence and rule upon the admissibility of each `single declaration or remark.'" Id. According to the court in Canan, the appropriate inquiry is whether each `single declaration or remark' meets the requirements set forth in Rule 804(b)(5). Id.

We find this approach to be well advised, keeping in mind that, additionally, the trial court must determine whether the evidence satisfies the relevancy requirements of W.Va. R. Evid. 40134 and 402,35 and if it does, whether, under Rule 403,36 the evidence may nevertheless be excluded when the danger of unfair prejudice outweighs its probative value. See State v. Satterfield, 193 W.Va. 503, 512, 457 S.E.2d 440, 449 (1995). See also Syl. Pt. 10, TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp. 187 W.Va. 457, 460, 419 S.E.2d 870, 873 (1992) ("`Rules 402 and 403 of the West Virginia Rules of Evidence [1985] direct the trial judge to admit relevant evidence, but to exclude evidence whose probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.' Syl. Pt. 4, Gable v. The Kroger Co., 186 W.Va. 62, 410 S.E.2d 701 (1991).")

Accordingly, we hold that when ruling upon the admission of a narrative under Article VIII (Hearsay) of the West Virginia Rules of Evidence, a trial court must break down the narrative and determine the separate admissibility of each single declaration or remark.37 The trial court must also analyze whether the declaration or remark is relevant pursuant to W.Va. R. Evid. 401 and, if so, admissible pursuant to W.Va. R. Evid. 402. However, if the probative value of the declaration or remark is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, then it may be excluded pursuant to W.Va. R. Evid. 403. While we recognize this process may be fact intensive, we believe it to be critical to ensuring that unfairly prejudicial evidence is excluded from jury consideration and to ensuring that a criminal defendant is thus afforded a fair trial.

The trial court's admission of the victim's sixty-three page diary was an abuse of discretion and requires a reversal of Appellant's conviction and sentence. The trial court's admission of the entire narrative as a single statement by the victim was unfairly prejudicial and proved to be critical to the State's case given the lack of any physical evidence linking Appellant to his wife's death and given the State's failure to present any witnesses who had ever observed Appellant threaten or physically abuse her. Therefore, Appellant is entitled to a new trial. On remand, each declaration and remark from the diary sought to be admitted into evidence under the hearsay rules must be separately determined to be admissible in accordance with this opinion.38

C.

Although we reverse Appellant's conviction and sentence on the ground that the trial court improperly admitted into evidence the victim's sixty-three page diary, we will briefly address the trial court's ruling admitting into evidence the victim's statements to others. As indicated above, the trial court admitted into evidence statements made by the victim to her children, Zachary and Kristy, and to Kristy's boyfriend, Jimmy Schreckengoest, that Appellant threatened her with a gun and attempted to strangle her with a cord. The trial court ruled, without explanation, that the statements were admissible under this Court's decision in State v. Sutphin, 195 W.Va. 551, 466 S.E.2d 402 (1995).

The issue in Sutphin involved the admissibility of testimony by a trial witness regarding what he was told by the victim. More specifically, the victim told the witness (her father) that the defendant threatened to kill her if she ever left him again. On appeal from the defendant's conviction for the victim's murder, we identified the issue as hearsay within hearsay — that is, "a statement made by a declarant that repeats or addresses a statement made by another declarant." 195 W.Va. at 560, 466 S.E.2d at 411 (citing Franklin D. Cleckley, Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers §8-5 (3d ed. 1994)). Accordingly, we analyzed the issue pursuant to W.Va. R. Evid. 805 and determined that under that rule, "hearsay included within hearsay is admissible if each level of hearsay comports with one of the exceptions to the hearsay rule." Id., at syl. pt. 4.

Ultimately, in Sutphin, we concluded that the threatening statement made by the defendant to the victim was actually non-hearsay under W.Va. R. Evid. 801(d)(2) and, alternatively, if the defendant's statement did not qualify as non-hearsay under Rule 801(d)(2), it was nevertheless admissible under W.Va. R. Evid. 803(3), the "state of mind" exception. In examining the recitation of the defendant's threat by the victim to her father (a trial witness), we determined that statement was admissible under W.Va. R. Evid. 803(2), the "excited utterance" exception to the hearsay rules.

In this case, the trial court failed to set forth any findings, conclusions or other reasoning in support of its very general ruling that the victim's statements to her children and Jimmy Schreckengoest were admissible under Sutphin. It is well settled that a trial court's evidentiary rulings are subject to appellate review under an abuse of discretion standard. Roudoussakis, at syl. pt. 4, 204 W.Va. at 61, 511 S.E.2d at 472. See In Interest of Tiffany Marie S., 196 W.Va. 223, 234, 470 S.E.2d 177, 188 (1996) (stating that this Court "will interfere with a circuit court's ruling on evidentiary matters only if [a party] demonstrates an abuse of the circuit court's substantial discretion" (citation omitted)); and Gentry v. Mangum, 195 W.Va. 512, 518, 466 S.E.2d 171, 177 (1995) (indicating that "a reviewing court gives special deference to the evidentiary rulings of a circuit court" (footnote omitted)). A trial court must therefore set forth its reasoning for its evidentiary rulings so that, on appeal, this Court may conduct a meaningful review thereof. "This Court cannot perform its function unless the circuit court's [ruling] contains both the factual and legal bases for its ultimate conclusion." Nestor v. Bruce Hardwood Flooring, L.P., 206 W.Va. 453, 456, 525 S.E.2d 334, 337 (1999). Cf. Fayette County Nat. Bank v. Lilly, 199 W.Va. 349, 354, 484 S.E.2d 232, 237 (1997) (stating that "the circuit court's order must provide clear notice to all parties and the reviewing court as to the rationale applied in granting or denying summary judgment"). In the case sub judice, the trial court's ruling with regard to the admissibility of the victim's statements to others was clearly insufficient for meaningful appellate review. Therefore, we find the trial court committed error in admitting those statements into evidence.

IV. Conclusion

Based upon all of the above,39 it is hereby ordered that Appellant's conviction of first degree murder in the Circuit Court of Wood County is hereby reversed, and this case is remanded for a new trial consistent with this opinion.

Reversed and remanded.