Examples Of Vera's Statement Of Hearsay

Question 1 - Vera’s Statement

a. Was Vera’s statement a hearsay?
Under the Federal Law, hearsay is not admissible in the courts. A hearsay is an out of court statement that is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Hearsay is generally inadmissible since the judge or jury is unable to form an opinion regarding whether the person making the out-of-court statement is reliable. Multiple exceptions to the hearsay rule exist, and a defendant’s own out-of-court statements are excluded from the definition of hearsay entirely. Here, Vera was a passenger in the car that was driven by Paul. She told Paul that SUV behind them is driving recklessly through the traffic. Since the statement was made while driving in Paul’s car the statement

Under the Federal Rules, there are two requirements for the exception: the statement must relate to the startling event or condition and the statement must have been made while the declarant was still under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. Here, Vera just noticed a black SUV driving dangerously behind them. She made the statement while she was still under the impression of this possibly dangerous event. Therefore, we can assume that Vera’s statement meets requirement for “exiting utterance” and may be

Can a photocopy of Molly’s notes be used as an evidence of Paul’s statements?
Under the rule of Admissibility of Duplicates, a duplicate is admissible as long as it is authenticated and is not inadmissible hearsay. Molly will have to state that she personally inspected the document and the photocopy is an exact duplicate of the original notes. Under Recorded Recollection exception against hearsay, Molly could use her notes to refresh her memory, as long as she personally wrote those notes, and the notes were made when the matter was fresh in her memory. Here, Molly wrote the notes down right after the accident, therefore, they should accurately reflect events and the statements made by Paul.

b. Are the statements made by Paul admissible?
Paul made two statements to Molly. In the first statement, Paul told Molly that he was at fault because he was driving too fast. According to the FRE, if a declarant makes a statement against his interest, such as an admission of guilt of the matter at hand, that statement is admissible. Unlike other cases of declarations against interest, the declarant in this situation need not be unavailable. Here, according to Molly’s notes, Paul admitted that he was driving too fast and that the accident was his fault. Paul’s admission of guilt is not hearsay and is admissible as an evidence against