Section 23.1 Generally

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

A. (§23.1) Generally

Many facts are matters of common knowledge and of such notoriety as not to be subject to any reasonable dispute. State v. Stavricos, 506 S.W.2d 51, 57 (Mo. App. S.D. 1974). Judicial notice is a rule of evidence that presumes the matter subject to notice as true and thus dispenses with the necessity of establishing that fact by evidence. Baris v. State, 846 S.W.2d 764, 765 (Mo. App. W.D. 1993), overruled on other grounds,Cooley v. Dir. of Revenue, 896 S.W.2d 468 (Mo. banc 1995). Because the matter judicially noticed may be established without supporting evidence, that matter must have independent reliability and trustworthiness. State v. Weber, 814 S.W.2d 298, 303 (Mo. App. E.D. 1991). Hence, the effect of taking judicial notice of a matter is that the matter becomes the equivalent of evidence, Zickefoose v. Thompson, 148 S.W.2d 784, 792 (Mo. 1941), amounting to a prima facie level of proof, English v. Old Am. Ins. Co., 426 S.W.2d 33, 40–41 (Mo. 1968).

The court is not required to have actual knowledge of a matter in order to take judicial notice of it. Thus, if a matter is otherwise subject to judicial notice, a court may refresh its memory by reference to reliable publications. Buhrkuhl v. F.T. O’Dell Constr. Co., 95 S.W.2d 843, 846 (Mo. App. E.D. 1936). The fact that a matter may be ascertained by reference to reliable but highly technical publications, however, in and of itself, does not require a court to take judicial notice of it unless a proper foundation for its admission is made. Cupples Hesse Corp. v. State Tax Comm’n of Mo., 329 S.W.2d 696, 701 (Mo. 1959).

Considerable discretion is vested in the court, and, even though a matter might be of requisite notoriety, a court may refuse judicial notice to reach a just result. State v. Umfleet, 587 S.W.2d 612, 618 (Mo. App. E.D. 1979). Moreover, any doubts as to the notoriety of a matter should be resolved in the negative. Morfit v. Thompson, 282 S.W. 113, 116 (Mo. App. E.D. 1926).

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