§ 12-2804. Hearsay exception - Declarant unavailable.

A.  "Unavailability as a witness," as used in this section, includes the situation in which the declarant:

1.  Is exempt by ruling of the court on the ground of privilege from testifying concerning the subject matter or of the declarant’s statement;

2.  Persists in refusing to testify concerning the subject matter of the declarant’s statement despite an order of the court to do so;

3.  Testifies to a lack of memory of the subject matter of the declarant’s statement;

4.  Is unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because of death or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or

5.  Is absent from the hearing and the proponent of the declarant’s statement has been unable to procure the declarant’s attendance or, in the case of a hearsay exception under paragraphs 2, 3 or 4 of subsection B of this section, the declarant’s attendance or testimony, by process or other reasonable means.

A declarant is not unavailable as a witness if the declarant’s exemption, refusal, claim of lack of memory, inability or absence is due to an act by the proponent of the declarant’s statement for the purpose of preventing the witness from attending or testifying.

B.  The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:

1.  Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same or another proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom the testimony is now offered or, in a civil action or proceeding, a predecessor in interest had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross or redirect examination;

2.  In a prosecution for homicide or in a civil action or proceeding, a statement made by a declarant while believing that the declarant’s death was imminent, concerning the cause or circumstances of what the declarant believed to be the declarant’s impending death;

3.  A statement which was at the time of its making contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or which tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, or to render invalid a claim by the declarant against another, and which a reasonable person in the declarant’s position would not have made unless the declarant believed it to be true.  A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate the accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.  A statement or confession offered against the accused in a criminal case, made by a codefendant or other individual implicating both the codefendant or other individual and the accused, is not within this exception; and

4.  A statement concerning the declarant's own birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship to another person or other similar fact of personal or family history, even though declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter stated; or statement concerning the foregoing matters or death of another person, if the declarant was related to that person by blood, adoption or marriage or was so intimately associated with the person's family as to be likely to have accurate information concerning the matter declared.

Added by Laws 1978, c. 285, § 804, eff. Oct. 1, 1978.  Amended by Laws 2002, c. 468, § 60, eff. Nov. 1, 2002.