Also known as: prior statements · previous statement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An out-of-court statement made by a declarant before the current trial or hearing. The statement may be used for impeachment or, when it satisfies the conditions of Rule 801(d)(1), as nonhearsay substantive evidence if the declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination.
During trial Piper Patel questioned defense witness Paul Peterson about a written statement he gave an investigator two weeks earlier. Piper never showed the document to Paul but immediately handed a copy to opposing counsel when requested. The court permitted the line of questioning to continue.
Pedro Pacheco testified that he could not recall why he had picked the defendant out of a lineup six months earlier. The prosecution introduced the earlier identification statement through another officer. The court admitted the identification as nonhearsay because Pedro remained available for cross-examination.
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Phoebe Park testified at trial that she had never seen loose scaffolding. Ash Construct offered her sworn deposition from a prior proceeding in which she described warning the superintendent about the same hazard. The court admitted the deposition as nonhearsay because it was inconsistent with her testimony and given under penalty of perjury.
After an initial unwarned but voluntary admission, officers gave Perry Pratt Miranda warnings and obtained a second statement. The court evaluated whether the later statement was voluntary in light of the entire course of police conduct and surrounding circumstances.
A witness gave prior testimony at a preliminary hearing but later became unavailable. The prosecution offered the transcript. The court assessed whether the earlier testimony bore sufficient indicia of reliability to satisfy confrontation requirements.
The defendant killed the only eyewitness to prevent her from testifying. The prosecution offered the witness's earlier out-of-court statement. The court admitted the statement after finding that the defendant had intentionally caused the witness's unavailability.
A party need not show the statement or disclose its contents to the witness. The party must, however, disclose the statement to an adverse party's attorney upon request.
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The statement is admissible as nonhearsay if the declarant testifies and is subject to cross-examination and the statement was given under penalty of perjury at a prior proceeding or deposition and is inconsistent with the declarant's testimony.
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No. A prior statement of identification remains admissible as nonhearsay even if the witness cannot recall the basis for the identification, provided the witness is subject to cross-examination about the statement.
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Extrinsic evidence is admissible only after the witness has been given an opportunity to explain or deny the statement and an adverse party has had an opportunity to examine the witness, unless the court orders otherwise.
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…and thus more reliable. Nowlin, supra , at 335-338, 579 S. E. 2d, at 371-372. Other courts routinely rely on the fact that a prior statement is given under oath in judicial proceedings. E. g. , Gallego, supra , at 168 (plea allocution); Papajohn, supra , at 1120 (grand jury testimony). That inculpating statements are given in…