Professional Documents
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Bar Note
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Bar Notes
I. HEARSAY
Example:
A bank robbery occurs, and a man runs from the bank into a bar and sits on a stool. A police
officer comes in and asks the bartender, “Did you just see a man run in here wearing a blue
windbreaker?” The bartender points to the man. The act of pointing the finger is conduct intended
as an assertion, and thus is a statement.
Example:
Same facts as above, only when the bartender points at the man, the man gets up and runs away.
This is not assertive conduct, and is thus not a statement.
(1) Assertive conduct is:
a statement
Example:
Shaking your head ‘yes’ or ‘no’, a smile, a wink, or a police sketch are all examples of
assertive conduct.
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EXAMPLE:
Defendant has just been brought into a police station for arraignment for DUI. While sitting
there, he is videotaped behaving in an abusive manner. He is not acting abusively to prove
he is intoxicated, so this is nonassertive conduct and not a statement.
(2) A statement must be a human statement, not one made by an animal or a machine.
(a) An animal’s behavior may be admitted:
as circumstantial evidence (may get in as relevance)
3. A declarant is:
person who makes a statement
C. Analysis of Hearsay Issues
1. Hearsay is not always inadmissible; the finding that a statement is hearsay merely requires further
analysis of its admissibility:
a. determine the assertion or conduct serving as the out-of-court statement;
b. who
said it (who is the declarant)
c. what is the purpose
(1) If the evidence is being offered for its truth:
figure out how to get it in (go to step 4)
(2) If is it being offered for some other non-truth purpose:
look for a nonhearsay exemption
(a) Examples of non-truth purposes include:
1) impeachment - intro evidence to challenge witness credibility
2) state of mind
3) verbal acts
4) prior statements
(not hearsay)(b) State of Mind
1) These statements are circumstantial evidence offered to prove:
knowledge, intent, attitude or belief
Example:
Plaintiff slips on the steps of a business, and is now suing for negligence. He calls
as a witness a person who overhead someone call out to the owner, “Be careful!
Your steps are slippery!” This person made the statement just moments before
Plaintiff slipped and fell. It is being offered because it is relevant to the owner’s state
of mind—his knowledge of the dangerous condition.
2) A four-step process for learning and applying these rules is:
a) memorize
b) think of example (slippery stairs)
c) vary the example
d) how does each example change answer
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Example:
Defendant steals an expensive watch. The next day, his friend is visiting and, noticing the watch,
says, “That sure is an expensive watch. You must have stolen it!” Defendant remains silent. Is this
is this admissible? an admission by silence?
no, bc it is just conjecture/ speculation
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Example:
A prior inconsistent statement was made in an affidavit. Is the statement sworn?
no ; not done during a legal proceeding
c. Prior Consistent Statements
(1) These are generally offered on redirect to rebut a charge of:
recent fabrication
(2) Along with the other two requirements, the FRE adds a third for prior consistent statements.
The prior consistent statement must:
predates the motivation to fabricate
(a) This requirement is difficult to overcome, making ‘prior consistent statement’ usually an
incorrect answer.
d. Prior Identifications
(1) These are prior statements of identification of:
prior identification of someone
(2) This will generally be a correct answer in a question where there is a lineup, photo
identification, or sketch.
Example:
Defendant is on trial for bank robbery, and the only eyewitness is the victim himself. The
witness testifies that the bank robber had red hair. When Defendant shows up for trial, he has
blonde hair. Prosecution calls the jailer to testify that when Defendant was first brought to jail
he had red hair. Would this be a prior identification?
no; this is just circumstantial evidence that person had red hair at time of incident (?)
E. Hearsay Exceptions
1. Hearsay Exceptions; Availability of Declarant Immaterial (FRE 803)
a. The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
(1) Present Sense Impression
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Example:
Wanda testifies that Victor looked up and screamed, “That crane is about to fall!”
right before the crane fell on him.
(2) Excited Utterance
(a) An excited utterance is a statement:
made while under the stress of excitement from event
(b) Some characteristics of this hearsay exception are:
1) startling event
2) personal knowledge
3)
doesn’t need to be immediate (made while still under stress)
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Example:
The hospital admission records may be admitted to show that a party did, in fact, seek
medical treatment for his injuries. also police reports
(e) The business record can be authenticated by an employee, affidavit, or stipulation.
(f) When dealing with a lab report in a criminal case, if the preparer of the court is unavailable:
not sufficient (the confrontation clause is violated)
(7) Absence of Entry in Records and Absence of Public Record
(a) Evidence that a matter is not included in the record may be admitted to prove the
nonoccurrence or non-existence of the matter.
(b) For this exception to work, certain requirements must be met. The witness must testify:
1) that he is familiar with the records;
2) he diligently searched
3) no record was found
(8) Public Records and Reports
(a) Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or
agencies, setting forth:
1) the activities of the office or agency;
2) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law; and
a) In criminal cases, police reports, when offered against the defendant, are
inadmissible due to a lack of trustworthiness.
b) In civil cases, statements of a third party, bystander, or eyewitness will typically
not be admissible due to a lack of trustworthiness unless the police officer was
there almost immediately after the event.
3) in civil actions, factual findings resulting from an investigation.
Example:
The conclusions of an investigator regarding whether the cause of an airplane crash
was equipment malfunction or pilot error are admissible.
(9) Records of Vital Statistics
(a) Records or data compilations, in any form, of births, fetal deaths, deaths, or marriages, if
the report thereof was made to a public office pursuant to requirements of law.
Example:
A birth certificate or a marriage license.
(10) Absence of Public Record or Entry
(a) Evidence in the form of a certification in accordance with FRE 902, or testimony, that
diligent search failed to disclose a record, report, statement, or data compilation, or entry
of a matter of which a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, was
regularly made and preserved by a public office or agency.
Example:
The lack of a birth certificate in the usual place a birth certificate would be registered is
admissible.
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Example:
A family tree written in the front of a family Bible may be admitted to prove ancestry.
(12) Market Reports, Commercial Publications
(a) These have to be statements of objective facts, not opinions.
Example:
A telephone directory, credit report, or retail sales catalog would all come in under this
exception.
(b) This exception would even include:
stock value and general market info
(13) Learned Treatises
(a) This is also sometimes called the expert exception, and is viewed very broadly under the
FRE.
(b) The statements made in these treatises are:
authoritative;
(c) There is a foundational requirement before the statements can be read into evidence,
which establishes authoritativeness. This can be done:
1) through an expert
2) judge take judicial notice
3) stipulation to the authoritativeness
(d) Under the Federal Rules, the subject matter can include:
to impeach or substantively to prove the truth?
2. Hearsay Exceptions; Declarant Unavailable (FRE 804)
a. Unavailability as a witness includes situations in which the declarant:
(1) P:
privilege
(2) R:
refusal to testify
(3) I:
incapability
(4) S:
subpoena (still unavailable even after subpoena)
(5) M:
memory (lack of memory)
b. The proponent bears the burden of proving that the witness is unavailable.
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c. The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:
(1) Former Testimony
(a) These are statements given under oath as a witness either:
same or different proceeding or deposition
(b) The party against whom the testimony is being offered must have had:
the same opportunity to cross exam the witness
(c) One caveat of this is that if the former testimony was given at a grand jury proceeding:
there is no opportunity to cross examine?
Example:
In Trial #1, Defendant was charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor that carried a
maximum fine of $500. At trial, the officer who followed and arrested Defendant testified
that he saw Defendant throw something out the car window while driving. Defendant’s
attorney did not cross-examine the officer.
In Trial #2, Defendant was charged with murder. At the trial, the prosecution seeks to
introduce the former (Trial #1) testimony of the officer (now deceased) to prove that
Defendant threw the murder weapon from the car. Assume other evidence established
that the weapon was recovered near the location where Defendant was arrested for
reckless driving. The former testimony is inadmissible because Defendant’s attorney had
no real motive to develop or cross-examine the officer at Trial #1, given that the event
had little to do with reckless driving and the fine for reckless driving was small.
(2) Statement under Belief of Impending Death (“Dying Declarations”)
(a) There are four elements of this exception: CUBA
1) C:
cause or circumstance of death
2) U:
unavaiable declarant
3) B:
belief declarant’s death is imminent (doesn’t have to die)
4) A:
any civil case or homicide prosecution (remember attempted murder is not homicide)
Example:
Victim is shot; he is bleeding profusely and coughing up blood. It is reasonable for
him to believe death is imminent. Victim cannot speak, so he grabs a pen and paper
and draws a sketch of the person. This is a statement. Victim then dies, so he is
unavailable. Defendant is then apprehended and charged with murder, so we have a
criminal homicide case.
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Example:
Defendant is on trial for bank robbery, but the video camera footage appears to show
that X did it. At the trial, Defendant calls X to testify, and X asserts his Fifth Amendment
privilege and refuses to testify. Defendant calls someone else to testify that X told him
he committed the robbery. This will come in as a declaration against (penal) interest. In
particular, this is an exculpatory statement against penal interest.
(d) Whenever there is an exculpatory statement against penal interest, there is an additional
requirement:
corroboration
Example:
In the above example, the video camera is the corroboration.
(4) Statement of Personal or Family History (“Pedigree Exception”)
(a) A statement concerning the declarant’s own birth, adoption, marriage, divorce,
legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of
personalText
or family history, even though declarant had no means of acquiring personal
knowledge of the matter stated.
Example:
A woman’s statement of her birth date.
(5) Forfeiture by Wrongdoing
(a) A statement offered against a party that has:
wrongfully acquiesced into the wrongful procurement of the witness /
declarant’s availability (very serious like kidnapping)
(b) For this to apply, the defendant must have engaged in very serious wrongdoing intended
to procure the witness’s unavailability.
(c) Once the defendant does this, he forfeits any hearsay objection and waives his
Confrontation Clause rights.
3. Confrontation Clause
a. Under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause, testimonial hearsay is inadmissible against a
criminal defendant who has not had an opportunity to cross-examine the declarant.
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(1) Testimonial evidence refers to situations where the primary purpose of the police
interrogation is:
to assist in future prosecution / trial
(2) Testimonial evidence in this context refers, at a minimum, to:
(a) prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial; and
(b) police interrogations.
(3) Evidence is non-testimonial in situations where the primary purpose of the statement is:
to enable the police to meet an ongoing emergency (not prosecution; eg 9-1-1 call)
4. Hearsay Within Hearsay (FRE 805)
a. Where one out-of-court statement offered for its truth contains another such out-of-court statement
(“double hearsay”), each layer of hearsay must be examined separately and a hearsay exception
found. Justification for admissibility of each statement is required; otherwise, the entire statement
is inadmissible.
b. Common examples where this will arise include:
business records and statement by customer
Example:
The custodian of a business record could introduce into evidence an entry made by her employer
recording a statement made to him by the defendant which said, “The goods I sold you were not
up to our usual quality.” The entry itself would be a business record and the statement included
therein would be an admission.
5. Attacking and Supporting Credibility of Declarant (FRE 806)
a. A declarant may be impeached in many different ways, including by:
bias ; impeaching the credibility of the out of court declarant
Example:
Girlfriend calls 911 and says, “My boyfriend just pulled a gun on me!” The dispatcher notifies the
police, who arrive at the house within minutes. Boyfriend decides he is going to drive around the
block one more time to see what is happening. He is then apprehended and charged with assault
with a deadly weapon. At trial, Girlfriend decides she does not want to testify and refuses to do
so. Nonetheless, the 911 tape is admitted as a present sense impression. The defense then calls
Neighbor as a witness to testify that Girlfriend was walking down the street with Neighbor about a
month after the accident and told him, “My boyfriend never had a gun that day.” That statement is
admissible to impeach what Girlfriend said in the 911 tape.
6. Residual Exception (FRE 807)
a. A statement not otherwise covered by an exception to the hearsay rule is nevertheless not
excluded by the hearsay rule under certain circumstances:
(1) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence
which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts;
(2) t he statement has circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness equivalent to those embodied
by FRE 803 and 804;
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(3) the proponent of the statement gives the adverse party advance notice of the intent to
offer the statement and the statement’s particulars, including the name and address of the
declarant;
(4) offered as evidence of material fact
(5) the general purposes of the FRE and the interests of justice will best be served by admission
of the statement into evidence.
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Multiple Choice Questions
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Hearsay Answer Grid
BE SURE EACH MARK IS DARK AND COMPLETELY FILLS THE INTENDED OVAL, AS SHOWN IN A B C D
THE ILLUSTRATION AT THE RIGHT. COMPLETELY ERASE ANY MISTAKES OR STRAY MARKS.
IN THE BOXES PROVIDED BELOW, PRINT YOUR LAST NAME,
SKIP A BOX, THEN PRINT YOUR FIRST NAME, SKIP A BOX,
1 A B C D 2 A B C D 3 A B C D 4 A B C D 5 A B C D
LAST NAME, THEN FIRST NAME
THEN PRINT YOUR MIDDLE INITIAL.
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Question 1 Question 2
A homeowner owns a cottage in the historic section of A plaintiff sues a defendant for injuries he sustained in an
downtown. A city employee informed her in March that automobile collision. At trial, the plaintiff testified that
the city would be spraying in her area to eradicate the the defendant drove through a “STOP” sign and hit him.
infestation of gypsy moths that were destroying the old The defendant testified that he had stopped at the STOP
trees that lined her street. The employee informed the sign and proceeded cautiously into the intersection. The
homeowner that the spraying would take place on May plaintiff’s attorney did not cross-examine the defendant.
1 and would not be harmful to household pets. Based
The plaintiff’s attorney called a police officer who
on this information, the homeowner left her pets in
testified that the defendant told him he had not seen the
her yard on May 1. On May 4, the homeowner’s two-
STOP sign, because of overhanging tree branches.
year-old poodle died, and on May 7, her three-year-old
golden retriever died. The homeowner’s cat’s health was The judge should find that the officer’s testimony is
unchanged. Toxicology reports confirmed that the dogs
(A) inadmissible, because the accident report is the
had died from elevated levels of the same compound the
best evidence of what the defendant told the
city used. The homeowner sued the city and several of its
officer.
employees, including the director of pest control.
(B) inadmissible, as hearsay not within any
The director recently suffered a severe heart attack and
recognized exception.
cannot testify. The homeowner’s lawyer calls one of the
nurses who attended to the director. The nurse proposes (C) admissible, as a prior inconsistent statement to
to testify to a conversation between the director and the impeach the defendant.
director’s husband, which the nurse overheard while
(D) admissible, as offered against the defendant.
in the course of her duties. In that conversation, the
director told her husband that she was afraid she might
be demoted because of the way she managed that spring
moth eradication program. The director said she should
not have hired the contractor she did, because they had a
poor reputation.
Is the nurse’s testimony admissible?
(A) Yes, as a vicarious admission.
(B) Yes, as a declaration against interest.
(C) No, as hearsay not within any exception.
(D) No, as violative of the husband-wife confidential
privilege.
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Multiple Choice Questions
Question 3 Question 4
A man’s car broke down, and since he was only a A woman is on trial for murder. The prosecution calls
mile from the repair shop, he decided to walk. As he a police detective to testify against her. On cross-
approached the repair shop, he tripped on the cracked examination, the woman’s attorney asks the detective to
front cement step. The man fell and fractured his wrist. A confirm that the murder victim, shortly before he died,
woman who was jogging by rushed up to him and asked, stated aloud that the woman was not the one who killed
“Are you hurt?” The man said, “Yes.” The jogger then him, and the detective answers that he is unable to recall
remarked, “It is unbelievable that a business would allow whether the victim made such a statement. The woman’s
its front step to deteriorate to this state.” attorney seeks to refresh the detective’s memory by
asking him to read a case report prepared by another
A few months later, the man filed an action against
police officer immediately following the woman’s arrest.
the repair shop to recover for his injuries. At trial, the
jogger’s statement is Is it permissible for the woman’s attorney to request that
the detective read the police report?
(A) admissible, even though it is hearsay.
(A) Yes, but only to refresh the detective’s
(B) admissible, as an excited utterance.
recollection.
(C) inadmissible, as hearsay not within any
(B) Yes, but only if the report constitutes a business
recognized exception.
record.
(D) inadmissible, if the declarant cannot be
(C) No, because the report is hearsay not within any
subpoenaed to testify at trial.
exception.
(D) No, because the detective did not prepare or
adopt the report.
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Question 5
A tenant in an apartment building was charged with the
homicide of his neighbor. The tenant claimed that he had
acted in self-defense. At trial, the tenant testified that
when he first moved into the apartment building, he was
told to stay away from the neighbor because she was “a
black widow.” The prosecution objected.
How should the court rule?
(A) The statement is inadmissible as a self-serving
statement.
(B) The statement is inadmissible as hearsay not
within an applicable exception.
(C) The statement is admissible as non-hearsay.
(D) The statement is admissible as a present sense
impression.
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Hearsay Answer Key
BE SURE EACH MARK IS DARK AND COMPLETELY FILLS THE INTENDED OVAL, AS SHOWN IN A B C D
THE ILLUSTRATION AT THE RIGHT. COMPLETELY ERASE ANY MISTAKES OR STRAY MARKS.
IN THE BOXES PROVIDED BELOW, PRINT YOUR LAST NAME,
SKIP A BOX, THEN PRINT YOUR FIRST NAME, SKIP A BOX,
1 A B C D 2 A B C D 3 A B C D 4 A B C D 5 A B C D
LAST NAME, THEN FIRST NAME
THEN PRINT YOUR MIDDLE INITIAL.
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