Section 16.31 Common-Law Exceptions

• Library: Evidence 2017

d. (§16.31) Common-Law Exceptions

The lack of a statutory exception does not preclude the admission of a public record. There are common-law exceptions for the public record to be admitted. For example, a record is admissible to establish the facts in the document if the record is “kept or prepared by a person whose public duty it is to record the facts stated in the document . . . .” State v. Blakeburn, 859 S.W.2d 170, 177 (Mo. App. W.D. 1993). If no statute or ordinance prescribes the manner of keeping the documents, counsel will have to call the...