Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

Re: Hearsay

Each judge will make his or her own interpretation of whether the statements are hearsay AND/or whether they violate the confrontation clause. The statements you reference are hearsay but may still be admissible under one of the hearsay exceptions and depending on the court's interpretation of Crawford (U.S. Supreme Court case) This is a complicated area and most attorneys are still trying to figure out how the courts are going to interpret this type of scenario in light of the Crawford case. It will really depend on the jurisdiction you are in and the judge who is ruling on the testimony.

Re: Hearsay

hearsay as a general rule is not allowed in a trial. However, they are exceptions to the hearsay rule including the "excited utterance" exception. In domestic violence cases this means that the victim makes a statement shortly after being assaulted.

The US Supreme Court in a case called Crawford v. Washington ruled that a defendant's right to confrontation was violated by the admission of a hearsay statement (exicted utterance). Court said that if a testimonial statement then person has to testify. The court did not defined what was "testimonial". As a result, courts in different jurisidictions are deciding what testimonial means. If you want to know what courts in your jurisdiction are doing, I recommend you go to www.tdcaa.com. They have a section on Crawford and what different jurisdictions are doing.