Evidence Flashcards

A pedestrian struck by a car sues the driver. At trial she offers a bystander's excited 911 statement, "Oh my God, that blue car just blew through the stop sign!" made seconds after the crash. The bystander is unavailable. Admissible?

Answer: Yes, as an excited utterance relating to a startling event made under the stress of excitement

An excited utterance about a startling event made while under the stress of excitement is admissible regardless of the declarant's availability.

In a will contest, a party offers the decedent's statement made a week before death: "I intend to cut my nephew out of my will." Offered to prove the decedent later acted on that intent, is the statement admissible?

Answer: Yes, as a statement of then-existing state of mind offered to prove subsequent conduct

A declarant's statement of present intent is admissible under the state-of-mind exception to prove the declarant later acted in conformity with that intent.

A criminal defendant seeks to introduce a sworn statement against penal interest by a now-deceased acquaintance confessing to the charged crime. What additional showing does the exception require in this criminal case?

Answer: Corroborating circumstances clearly indicating the statement's trustworthiness

A statement against penal interest offered to exculpate a criminal defendant requires corroborating circumstances that clearly indicate its trustworthiness.

A hospital record states: "Patient says he was hit by a truck that ran a red light." The plaintiff offers the full entry in his suit against the trucker. Which part is most vulnerable to a hearsay objection?

Answer: The statement that the truck ran a red light, because fault attribution is not pertinent to diagnosis or treatment

Statements of cause pertinent to diagnosis or treatment are admissible, but attributions of fault like running a red light generally are not.

At a murder trial, the State offers the victim's statement, "Joe stabbed me," whispered to a paramedic while the victim believed death was imminent; the victim later died. Under the dying declaration exception, is the statement admissible?

Answer: Yes, in a homicide prosecution, a statement about the cause of death made under belief of imminent death is admissible

A dying declaration concerning the cause or circumstances of impending death is admissible in a homicide prosecution when the declarant believed death was imminent.

A prosecutor offers a lab report identifying a substance as cocaine without calling the analyst who wrote it. The defendant objects on Confrontation Clause grounds. What is the strongest result?

Answer: The report is excluded because it is testimonial and the defendant had no opportunity to cross-examine the analyst

Forensic reports prepared for prosecution are testimonial, so admitting them without the analyst's testimony violates the Confrontation Clause absent unavailability and prior cross-examination.

A co-conspirator's statement is offered against the defendant. To fit the exemption for co-conspirator statements, the statement must have been made:

Answer: During the course of and in furtherance of the conspiracy

Co-conspirator statements are admissible against a party only if made during and in furtherance of the conspiracy.