In People v. Munoz, 348 Ill. App. 3d 423, 810 N.E.2d 65, 284 Ill. Dec. 412 (2004), the trial court ruled that certain hearsay testimony was not admissible under the state-of-mind exception, based on the concept that "hearsay declarations relating to the contemplation of suicide are generally inadmissible, unless they are part of the 'res gestae,' a contemporaneous act of the decedent that such statements might characterize or explain." Munoz, 348 Ill. App. 3d at 434. On appeal, the Munoz court determined that the appellate court had "long held that a person's state of mind 'may be proved by testimony of contemporaneous oral declarations,' and expressly rejected the requirement that the declarations be accompanied by a contemporaneous related act." Munoz, 348 Ill. App. 3d at 436, quoting Quick v. Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Co., 112 Ill. App. 2d 314, 320, 250 N.E.2d 819 (1969). The Munoz court found de novo review of the exclusion to be appropriate because "the trial court based its ruling on relevant documents which it considered in conjunction with the parties' arguments and did not assess the credibility of witnesses. In addition, the trial court based its ruling on an erroneous rule of law." Munoz, 348 Ill. App. 3d at 438-39.