(Download) "Rule 804(B) (6) - the Illegitimate Child of the Failed Liaison Between the Hearsay Rule and Confrontation Clause." by Missouri Law Review * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Rule 804(B) (6) - the Illegitimate Child of the Failed Liaison Between the Hearsay Rule and Confrontation Clause.
- Author : Missouri Law Review
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 372 KB
Description
I. INTRODUCTION Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6) (1) is a rule with a laudable purpose but a misperceived pedigree and a dangerous effect. Entitled "Forfeiture by Wrongdoing," the Rule purports to be the latest exception to the rule precluding hearsay. Unlike the other thirty hearsay exceptions, however, it admits out-of-court statements bearing no indicia of trustworthiness. (2) In fact, this hearsay exception is an unfocused sanction imposed on a party who intentionally makes a hearsay declarant unavailable. This sanction allows for the admission of any relevant statement made by the absent hearsay declarant irrespective of the trustworthiness of that statement. Moreover, the admission of such unreliable hearsay can provide the basis for a verdict and the imposition of the harshest criminal penalties or civil damages.