§807 Residual Exception

• Library: Evidence Restated Deskbook (2021 Ed.)

§807 Residual Exception

Exception not recognized in Missouri.

Notes

The Supreme Court of Missouri "has never adopted the residual hearsay exception rule, which allows admission of statements not specifically covered by any other exception when they have equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness." State v. Freeman, 269 S.W.3d 422, 428 (Mo. banc 2008).

But in State v. Bell, 950 S.W.2d 482, 486 (Mo. banc 1997), four judges of the Court, in a concurring opinion authored by Judge Limbaugh, argued for the "recognition of a residual hearsay exception [when no exception exists] based on trustworthiness" as "consistent with the underlying purpose of Missouri's traditional and conventional hearsay exceptions." The concurring opinion observed that although a formal recognition has not occurred, the federal courts and the courts of 29 states have adopted a residual or omnibus exception to relieve the harshness of the hearsay rule and that the Missouri court of appeals has "on occasion" admitted hearsay even though no traditional hearsay exception existed because the circumstances surrounding the statement showed it had a "circumstantial probability of trustworthiness." Id. at 485. Accordingly, it is probable that given the right case, this exception...