CHAPTER 11-6
HEARSAY
11-6-1 Definitions.
A statement is not hearsay if;
(A) The one making the statement testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is:
(1) inconsistent with his testimony, and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in a deposition, or
(2) consistent with his testimony and is offered to rebut an express or implied charge against him of recent fabrication or improper influence or motive; or
(3) one of identification of a person or object made after perceiving him or it; or
(B) The statement is offered against a party and is:
(1) his own statement, in either his individual or a representative capacity, or
(2) a statement of which he has manifested his adoption or belief in its truth, or
(3) a statement by a person authorized by him to make a statement concerning the subject, or
(4) a statement by his agent or servant concerning a matter within the scope of his agency or employment, made during the existence of the relationship, or
(5) a statement by a co-conspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy.
11-6-2 Hearsay Rule.
Hearsay is not admissible except as provided by this Title or by other rules prescribed by the Court of Appeals pursuant to statutory authority or by Act or Ordinance.
11-6-3 Hearsay Exceptions; Declarant Available.
The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
(A) A statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition, or immediately thereafter.
(B) A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition.
(C) A statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed unless it relates to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of declarant’s will.
(D) Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.
(E) A memorandum or record concerning a matter about which a witness once had knowledge but now has insufficient recollection to enable him to testify fully and accurately, shown to have been made or adopted by the witness when the matter was fresh in his memory and to reflect that knowledge correctly. If admitted, the memorandum or record may be read into evidence but may not itself be received as an exhibit unless offered by an adverse party.
(F) A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, concerning acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.
(G) Evidence that a matter is not included in the memoranda reports, records, or data complications, in any form, kept in accordance with the provisions of Subsection 11-6-3(F), to prove the non-occurrence or nonexistence of the matter, if the matter was of a kind of which a memorandum, report, record, or data compilation was regularly made and preserved, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.
(H) Records, reports, statements, or data complications, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth
(1) the activities of the office or agency, or
(2) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, or
(3) in civil actions and proceedings factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.
(I) Records or data complications, in any form, of birth, fetal deaths, deaths, or marriages, if the report was made to a public office pursuant to requirements of law.
(J) To prove the absence of a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, was regularly made and preserved by a public office or agency, evidence in the form of a certification in accordance with Section 11-7-2, or testimony, that diligent search failed to disclose the record, report, statement, or data compilation, or entry.
(K) Statements of births, marriages, divorces, deaths, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship by blood, marriage, or other similar acts of personal or family history, contained in a regularly kept record of a religious organization.
(L) Statements of fact contained in a certificate that the maker performed a marriage or other ceremony or administered a sacrament, made by a clergyman, public official, or other person authorized by the rules or practice of a religious organization or by law to perform the act certified, and purporting to have been issued at the time of the act or within a reasonable time thereafter.
(M) Statements of fact concerning personal or family history contained in family Bibles, genealogies, charts, engravings on rings, inscriptions on family portraits, engravings on urns, crypts, or tombstones, or the like.
(N) The record of a document purporting to establish or, affect an interest in property, as proof of the content of the original recorded document and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have been executed, if the record is a record of a public office and an applicable statute authorizes the recording of documents of that kind in that office.
(O) A statement contained in a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property if the matter stated was relevant to the purpose of the document, unless dealings with the property since the document was made have been inconsistent with the truth of the statement or the purport of the document.
(P) Statements in a document in existence twenty years or more the authenticity of which is established.
(Q) Market quotations, tabulations, lists, directories, or other published compilations, generally used and relied upon by the public or by persons in particular occupations.
(R) To the extent called to the attention of an expert witness upon cross-examination, or relied upon by him in direct examination, statements contained in published treatises, periodicals, or pamphlets on a subject of history, medicine, or other science or, established as a reliable authority by the testimony or admission of the witness or by other expert or by judicial notice. If admitted, the statements may be read into evidence but may not be received as exhibits.
(S) Reputation among members of his family by blood, adoption, or marriage, or among his associates, or in the community, concerning a person’s birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of his personal or family history.
(T) Reputation in a community, arising before the controversy, as to boundaries of or customs affecting lands in the community, and reputation as to events of general history important to the Tribe or community or state or nation in which located.
(U) Reputation of a person’s character among his associates or in the community.
(V) Evidence of a final judgment, entered after a trial or upon a plea of guilty (but not upon a plea of nolo contendere), adjudging a person guilty of a crime or offense, to prove any fact essential to sustain the judgment in the criminal case as against persons in any civil case, but not against the accused in a criminal case. The pendency of an appeal may be shown but does not affect admissibility.
(W) A statement not specifically covered by any of the foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, if the Court determines that
(1) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact;
(2) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered that any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and
(3) the general purposes of this Title and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence.
however, a statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party in writing sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, his intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant.
11-6-4 Hearsay Exceptions; Declarant Unavailable.
(A) “Unavailability as a witness” includes situations in which the declarant:
(1) is exempted by ruling of the Court on the ground of privilege from testifying concerning the subject matter of his statement; or
(2) persists in refusing to testify concerning the subject matter of his statement despite an order of the Court to do so; or
(3) testifies to a lack of memory of the subject matter of his statement; or
(4) is unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because of death or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or
(5) is absent from the hearing and the proponent of his statement has been unable to procure his attendance (or in the case of a hearsay exception under Subsection 11-6-4(B)(2), 11-6-4(B)(3), or 11-6-4(B)(4), his attendance or testimony) by process or other reasonable means.
A declarant is not available as a witness if his exemption, refusal, claim of lack of memory, inability, or absence is due to the procurement or wrongdoing of the proponent of his statement for the purpose of preventing the witness from attending or testifying.
(B) The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:
(1) Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same or a different proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom the testimony is now offered, or, in a civil action or proceeding, a predecessor in interest, had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination.
(2) In a civil action or proceeding, a statement made by a declarant while believing that his death was imminent, concerning the cause or circumstances of what he believed to be his impending death.
(3) A statement which was at the time of its making so far contrary to the declarant’s pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far tended to subject him to civil liability, or to render invalid a claim by him against another, that a reasonable person in his position would not have made the statement unless he believed it to be true.
(4) Statement of personal or family history:
(a) statement concerning the declarant’s own birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of personal of family history, even though declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter stated; or
(b) a statement concerning the foregoing matters, and death also, of another person, if the declarant was related to the other by blood, adoption, or marriage, or was so intimately associated with the other’s family as to be likely to have accurate information concerning the matter declared.
(5) A statement not specifically covered by any of the foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, if the Court determines that:
(a) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact;
(b) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and
(c) the general purpose of this Title and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. However, a statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party in writing sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, his intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant.
11-6-5 Hearsay Within Hearsay.
Hearsay included within hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the combined statements conforms with an exception to the hearsay rule provided in this Title.
11-6-6 Credibility of Declarant.
When a hearsay statement, or a statement defined in Subsection 11-6-1(B)(3), 11-6-1(B)(4), or 11-6-1(B)(5), has been admitted in evidence, the credibility of the declarant may be attacked, and if attacked may be supported, by any evidence which would be admissible for those purposes if declarant had testified as a witness. Evidence of a statement or conduct by the declarant at any time, inconsistent with his hearsay statement, is not subject to any requirement that he be afforded an opportunity to deny or explain. If the party against whom a hearsay statement has been admitted calls the declarant as a witness, the party is entitled to examine him on the statement as if under cross-examination.