§ 28.03 Witness with Knowledge: FRE 901(b)(1)

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 28.03 Witness with Knowledge: FRE 901(b)(1)

A witness with personal knowledge may authenticate a document.¹⁴ This is nothing more than an application of the firsthand knowledge rule.¹⁵ The authenticating witness need not be the author of the document, nor in most cases a subscribing witness.¹⁶For example, anyone who observes an accused sign a confession can authenticate the confession. Similarly, anybody present when a contract was signed could serve as the authenticating witness. The same rule applies to on-line chat rooms.¹⁷

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Notes:

^[14] See Fed. R. Evid. 901 advisory committee's note (The rule "contemplates a broad spectrum ranging from testimony of a witness who was present at the signing of a document to testimony establishing narcotics as taken from an accused and accounting for custody through the period until trial, including laboratory analysis.").

^[15] See Fed. R. Evid. 602 (firsthand knowledge rule). See United States v. Jackson, 636 F.3d 687, 693-94 (5th Cir. 2011) ("The record thus does not reflect whether the [drug] ledgers were prepared by someone with knowledge of the transactions they supposedly record, or whether they record transactions at all. The ledger entries do not include any indication of the term 'cocaine' and thus do not facially convey that they are applicable to the conspiracy charged. There are no dates recorded on the ledgers other than a lone reference in each to February 9 (without a year). No handwriting analysis was performed on the notebooks, and no member of the drug-trafficking organization testified relating to their trustworthiness.").

^[16] See Fed. R. Evid. 903 (subscribing witnesses). See infra § 28.12.

^[17] See State v. Webster, 955 A.2d 240, 244 (Me. 2008) ("Webster contends that the court erred in allowing in evidence transcripts of the on-line chats between Webster and Bringard [who he believed...