USA Statutes : nevada
Title : Title 04 - WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE
Chapter : CHAPTER 51 - HEARSAY
As used in this chapter, unless the
context otherwise requires, the words and phrases defined in NRS 51.025
to 51.055 , inclusive, have the meanings ascribed to them
in such sections.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 793)
“Declarant” means a person who
makes a statement.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 793)
“Hearsay” means a statement offered
in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted unless:
1. The statement is one made by a witness while testifying at the
trial or hearing;
2. The declarant testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject
to cross-examination concerning the statement, and the statement is:
(a) Inconsistent with his testimony;
(b) Consistent with his testimony and offered to rebut an express
or implied charge against him of recent fabrication or improper influence
or motive;
(c) One of identification of a person made soon after perceiving
him; or
(d) A transcript of testimony given under oath at a trial or
hearing or before a grand jury; or
3. The statement is offered against a party and is:
(a) His own statement, in either his individual or a representative
capacity;
(b) A statement of which he has manifested his adoption or belief
in its truth;
(c) A statement by a person authorized by him to make a statement
concerning the subject;
(d) A statement by his agent or servant concerning a matter within
the scope of his agency or employment, made before the termination of the
relationship; or
(e) A statement by a coconspirator of a party during the course and
in furtherance of the conspiracy.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 793)
“Statement” means:
1. An oral or written assertion; or
2. Nonverbal conduct of a person, if it is intended by him as an
assertion.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
1. A declarant is “unavailable as a witness” if he is:
(a) Exempted by ruling of the judge on the ground of privilege from
testifying concerning the subject matter of his statement;
(b) Persistent in refusing to testify despite an order of the judge
to do so;
(c) Unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because of
death or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or
(d) Absent from the hearing and beyond the jurisdiction of the
court to compel appearance and the proponent of his statement has
exercised reasonable diligence but has been unable to procure his
attendance or to take his deposition.
2. A declarant is not “unavailable as a witness” if his exemption,
refusal, inability or absence is due to the procurement or wrongdoing of
the proponent of his statement for the purpose of preventing the witness
from attending or testifying.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
1. Hearsay is inadmissible except as provided in this chapter,
title 14 of NRS and the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure.
2. This section constitutes the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
Hearsay included within
hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the
combined statements conforms to an exception to the hearsay rule provided
in this chapter.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 798)—(Substituted in revision for NRS 51.365)
1. When a hearsay statement has been admitted in evidence, the
credibility of the declarant may be attacked or supported by any evidence
which would be admissible for those purposes if the declarant had
testified as a witness.
2. Evidence of a statement or conduct by the declarant at any
time, which is inconsistent with his hearsay statement, is not subject to
any requirement that he must have been afforded an opportunity to deny or
explain.
3. If the party against whom a hearsay statement has been admitted
calls the declarant as a witness, the party may examine the witness on
that statement as if the witness were under cross-examination.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 798; A 1979, 25)—(Substituted in revision
for NRS 51.375)
EXCEPTIONS
Availability of Declarant Immaterial
1. A statement is not excluded by the hearsay rule if its nature
and the special circumstances under which it was made offer assurances of
accuracy not likely to be enhanced by calling the declarant as a witness,
even though he is available.
2. The provisions of NRS 51.085
to 51.305 , inclusive, are illustrative
and not restrictive of the exception provided by this section.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
A statement describing or
explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving
the event or condition, or immediately thereafter, is not inadmissible
under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
A statement relating to a
startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the
stress of excitement caused by the event or condition is not inadmissible
under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 794)
1. A statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind,
emotion, sensation or physical condition, such as intent, plan, motive,
design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health, is not inadmissible under
the hearsay rule.
2. A statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or
believed is inadmissible under the hearsay rule unless it relates to the
execution, revocation, identification or terms of declarant’s will.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or
treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms,
pain or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or
external source thereof are not inadmissible under the hearsay rule
insofar as they were reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
1. A memorandum or record concerning a matter about which a
witness once had knowledge but now has insufficient recollection to
enable him to testify fully and accurately is not inadmissible under the
hearsay rule if it is shown to have been made when the matter was fresh
in his memory and to reflect that knowledge correctly.
2. The memorandum or record may be read into evidence but may not
itself be received unless offered by an adverse party.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
A memorandum,
report, record or compilation of data, in any form, of acts, events,
conditions, opinions or diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from
information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, all in the course of
a regularly conducted activity, as shown by the testimony or affidavit of
the custodian or other qualified person, is not inadmissible under the
hearsay rule unless the source of information or the method or
circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795; A 1977, 1533; 1985, 787; 1989, 322;
1995, 1726)
Evidence that a matter is not included in the memoranda,
reports, records or data compilations, in any form, of a regularly
conducted activity is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule to prove
the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of the matter, if the matter was of a
kind of which a memorandum, report, record or data compilation was
regularly made and preserved.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
Records, reports,
statements or data compilations, in any form, of public officials or
agencies are not inadmissible under the hearsay rule if they set forth:
1. The activities of the official or agency;
2. Matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law; or
3. In civil cases and against the State in criminal cases, factual
findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority
granted by law,
Ê unless the sources of information or the method or circumstances of the
investigation indicate lack of trustworthiness.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
Records or data compilations, in any
form, of births, fetal deaths, deaths or marriages are not inadmissible
under the hearsay rule if the report thereof was made to a public office
pursuant to requirements of law.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
To prove:
1. The absence of a record, report, statement or data compilation,
in any form; or
2. The nonoccurrence or nonexistence of a matter of which a
record, report, statement or data compilation, in any form, was regularly
made and preserved by a public officer, agency or official,
Ê evidence in the form of a certificate of the custodian or other person
authorized to make the certification, or testimony, that diligent search
failed to disclose the record, report, statement, data compilation or
entry is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 795)
Statements of
births, marriages, divorces, deaths, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship
by blood or marriage, or other similar facts of personal or family
history, contained in a regularly kept record of a religious
organization, are not inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Statements of fact contained in a certificate that the maker performed a
marriage or other ceremony or administered a sacrament, made by a
clergyman, public official or other person authorized by the rules or
practices of a religious organization or by law to perform the act
certified, and purporting to have been issued at the time of the act or
within a reasonable time thereafter, are not inadmissible under the
hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Statements of fact contained in family
Bibles, genealogies, charts, engravings on rings, inscriptions on family
portraits, engravings on urns, crypts or tombstones, or the like, are not
inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
The record of a document purporting to establish or affect an interest
in property, as proof of the content of the original recorded document
and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have
been executed, is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule if the record
is a record of a public office and an applicable statute authorized the
recording of documents of that kind in that office.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
A statement contained in a document purporting to establish or affect an
interest in property is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule if the
matter stated was relevant to the purpose of the document, unless
dealings with the property since the document was made have been
inconsistent with the truth of the statement or the purport of the
document.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Statements in a
document more than 20 years old whose authenticity is established are not
inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Market
quotations, tabulations, lists, directories or other published
compilations, generally used and relied upon by the public or by persons
in particular occupations, are not inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
To the extent called to the
attention of an expert witness upon cross-examination or relied upon by
him in direct examination, a statement contained in a published treatise,
periodical or pamphlet on a subject of history, medicine or other science
or art, is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule if such book is
established as a reliable authority by the testimony or admission of the
witness or by other expert testimony or by judicial notice.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Reputation among members of a person’s family by blood or marriage, or
among his associates, or in the community, is not inadmissible under the
hearsay rule if it concerns his birth, marriage, divorce, death,
legitimacy, relationship by blood or marriage, ancestry or other similar
fact of his personal or family history.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 796)
Reputation in a community, arising before the controversy, as to:
1. Boundaries of or customs affecting lands in the community; and
2. Events of general history important to the community or to the
State or nation in which the community is located,
Ê are not inadmissible under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
Reputation of a person’s
character among his associates or in the community is not inadmissible
under the hearsay rule.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
1. Evidence of a final judgment, entered after trial or upon a
plea of guilty, but not upon a plea of nolo contendere, adjudging a
person guilty of a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of
1 year, is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule to prove any fact
essential to sustain the judgment.
2. This section does not make admissible, when offered by the
State in a criminal prosecution for purposes other than impeachment, a
judgment against a person other than the accused.
3. The pendency of an appeal may be shown but does not affect
admissibility.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797; A 1995, 2466; 2003, 1480 )
A judgment is not inadmissible under the hearsay rule
as proof of matters of personal, family or general history, or
boundaries, essential to the judgment, if the matters would be provable
by evidence of reputation.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
Declarant Unavailable
1. A statement is not excluded by the hearsay rule if:
(a) Its nature and the special circumstances under which it was
made offer strong assurances of accuracy; and
(b) The declarant is unavailable as a witness.
2. The provisions of NRS 51.325
to 51.355 , inclusive, are illustrative
and not restrictive of the exception provided by this section.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
Testimony given as a witness at
another hearing of the same or a different proceeding, or in a deposition
taken in compliance with law in the course of another proceeding, is not
inadmissible under the hearsay rule if:
1. The declarant is unavailable as a witness; and
2. If the proceeding was different, the party against whom the
former testimony is offered was a party or is in privity with one of the
former parties and the issues are substantially the same.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
A statement
made by a declarant while believing that his death was imminent is not
inadmissible under the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a
witness.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797)
1. A statement which at the time of its making:
(a) Was so far contrary to the pecuniary or proprietary interest of
the declarant;
(b) So far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal
liability;
(c) So far tended to render invalid a claim by the declarant
against another; or
(d) So far tended to make the declarant an object of hatred,
ridicule or social disapproval,
Ê that a reasonable person in the position of the declarant would not
have made the statement unless the declarant believed it to be true is
not inadmissible under the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable
as a witness. A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal
liability and offered to exculpate the accused in a criminal case is not
admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the
trustworthiness of the statement.
2. This section does not make admissible a statement or confession
offered against the accused made by a codefendant or other person
implicating both himself and the accused.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 797; A 1979, 44; 1997, 1592)
1. A statement concerning the declarant’s own birth, marriage,
divorce, legitimacy, relationship by blood or marriage, ancestry or other
similar fact of personal or family history is not inadmissible under the
hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness, even though
declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter
stated.
2. A statement concerning the matters enumerated in subsection 1,
and death also, of another person is not inadmissible under the hearsay
rule if the declarant:
(a) Was related to the other by blood or marriage or was so
intimately associated with the other’s family as to be likely to have
accurate information concerning the matter declared; and
(b) Is unavailable as a witness.
(Added to NRS by 1971, 798)
Statement of Child Describing Sexual Conduct or Physical Abuse
1. In addition to any other provision for admissibility made by
statute or rule of court, a statement made by a child under the age of 10
years describing any act of sexual conduct performed with or on the child
or any act of physical abuse of the child is admissible in a criminal
proceeding regarding that act of sexual conduct or physical abuse if:
(a) The court finds, in a hearing out of the presence of the jury,
that the time, content and circumstances of the statement provide
sufficient circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness; and
(b) The child testifies at the proceeding or is unavailable or
unable to testify.
2. In determining the trustworthiness of a statement, the court
shall consider, without limitation, whether:
(a) The statement was spontaneous;
(b) The child was subjected to repetitive questioning;
(c) The child had a motive to fabricate;
(d) The child used terminology unexpected of a child of similar
age; and
(e) The child was in a stable mental state.
3. If the child is unavailable or unable to testify, written
notice must be given to the defendant at least 10 days before the trial
of the prosecution’s intention to offer the statement in evidence.
(Added to NRS by 1985, 2132; A 2001, 702 )
