Section 16.4 Organization of Chapter

• Library: Evidence 2017

D. (§16.4) Organization of Chapter

There is no constitutional violation if the witness is available and subject to cross-examination. See the definition of hearsay contained in Federal Rule of Evidence 801(c), discussed in §16.1 above. Consequently, the organization of the hearsay exceptions into seven broad categories is helpful for evidentiary rules and constitutional analysis. The broad categories for this chapter are:

1. Admissions of a party-opponent

2. Statements of witnesses who are not parties

3. Statements of persons not parties who are unavailable to testify at trial

4. Statements in official documents

5. Statements in private documents

6. Statutory exceptions for statements that do not fall within one of the other categories, including child hearsay exceptions

7. The residual or “catch-all” exception for statements that exhibit particularized guarantees of trustworthiness but that do not fit under any common-law or statutory exception

Counsel should keep in mind that some out-of-court statements might be admissible under more than one exception, or if they fail under one exception, they might nevertheless be admissible under another. See, e.g., Bynote v. Nat’l Super Mkts., Inc., 891 S.W.2d 117 (Mo. banc 1995) (a statement was inadmissible as an excited utterance but was admissible as a...