ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Speaking of hearsay, here's my favorite story (I wasn't there so this is hearsay, but I knew all participants so it's pretty reliable hearsay for what it's worth).
An lawyer from Atlanta was here in Rome, Georgia, representing the plaintiff in a big case. A "country lawyer" from Rome was representing the defendant.
The Atlanta lawyer moved to admit an affidavit from a witness. The affidavit reported what the witness had seen. The Rome lawyer objected on the basis that it was hearsay. The Atlanta lawyer replied that it was a certified affidavit. Rome lawyer: "Then it's certified hearsay." The judge refused to admit the affidavit.
Hmmm... i am intrigued by these distinctions. Maybe this is OT, but:
OK - i can understand why someone testifying that they heard a defendant bragging about a murder is hearsay (even if admissible): the information about the murder came from another party, and you don't have direct knowledge of the murder.
However, if you testify that someone requests another person to do something in your presence, do you not have direct evidence of the request?
If, by example if A and B are talking to C, and C requests B to perform an illegal act (let's say it is murder of D); D gets murdered. Then A goes to the police tells them what they know and C is arrested (and there is other evidence to support that C is responsible for the crime).
So - A's testimony about the circumstances is hearsay? [&:]
OK - i've been reading up on this... perhaps Georgia statues differ, but IF someone was willing to testify under oath about something, it doesn't seem to be hearsay. i don't think it is the case about the woman stating what she heard in FDR's office since there was no testimony involved... here is what i've found that seems to be relevant:
"Hearsay is the legal term that describes statements made outside of court or other judicial proceedings. Unless one of about thirty[1] exceptions applies, hearsay is not allowed as evidence in the United States. The Hearsay Rule is an analytic rule of evidence that defines hearsay and provides for both exceptions and exemptions from that rule.
There is no all-encompassing definition of hearsay in the United States. However, most evidentiary codes defining hearsay adopt verbatim the rule as laid out in the Federal Rules of Evidence [1], which generally defines hearsay as a "statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted." Rule 801, 28 U.S.C. App. See Rule for Courts-Martial 801, Manual for Court Martial, United States (2005 ed.). Historically, the rule against hearsay is aimed at prohibiting the use of a person's assertion, as equivalent to testimony to the fact asserted, unless the assertor is brought to testify in court where he may be placed under oath and cross-examined."
"The theory of the rule excluding hearsay is that assertions made by human beings are often unreliable; such statements are often insincere, subject to flaws in memory and perception, or infected with errors in narration at the time they are given. The law therefore finds it necessary to subject this form of evidence to “scrutiny or analysis calculated to discover and expose in detail its possible weaknesses, and thus to enable the tribunal (judge or jury) to estimate it at no more than its actual value” (Wigmore on Evidence §1360).
Three tests are calculated to expose possible weaknesses in a statement:
1. Assertions must be taken under oath;
2. Assertions must be made in front of the tribunal (judge or jury); and
3. Assertions must be subject to cross-examination.
Assertions not subject to these three tests are (with some exceptions) prohibited insofar as they are offered testimonially (for the truth of what they assert)."
So, of course the affadavit case quoted above is "certified hearsay" since it fails rule 3, and probably rule 2, although not rule 1.
If the person DID come into court to testify, i am thinking it would not be hearsay. As it stands now - yes, it is, because there was no court case involved.
In my example of the person overhearing the attempting to hire someone to kill another person: if the person testified under oath, got the evidence through on their own (not through a third party), testified to a tribunal, and was subject to cross-examination, then the testimony would NOT be hearsay. At least under the Federal Rules of Evidence (or at least this is how i read it).
But, since in my original statement: yes, it is hearsay since it fails at least the second 2 criteria. Unless the case ever goes to court (and if the person is still alive and testified - the article is several years old and i am not sure the woman is still alive...)[:D]
Somehow i doubt you could put FDR on trial now - under current US law, anyway.
EDIT: It actually gets a lot more complicated... but not all out of court statements are considered hearsay. For instance:
"For example: Witness testifies that yesterday he spoke to Jim (who was in Vermont) on the phone and that Jim made the following statement, "It's raining in Vermont!" If the attorney is seeking to use this statement to prove that it was in fact raining in Vermont, then it is hearsay. But, if the attorney is seeking to use the statement to prove that the phone lines were working that day, or that Jim had not lost the power of speech, or for any other purpose, then the statement is not being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted, and therefore it is not hearsay."
In the case of the woman (should she be testifying) re: the FDR conversation - it could be argued that she is not trying to prove that FDR was trying to bring emergency supplies to PH, but rather that it was trying to prove foreknowledge by FDR of an attack.
Whether or not you could get a judge to accept it as testimony, well, it also depends if it is civil or criminal court.
BTW - just trying to figure out exactly what is meant by hearsay here... again, the statues differ state to state, and if you happen to be in Louisiana, forget it...