Opinion ID: 2520968
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Traditionally rooted hearsay exception

Text: Neither HRE Rule 804(b)(5) nor HRE Rule 804(b)(8) is a traditionally rooted hearsay exception. HRE Rule 804(b)(5) does not have a counterpart in the Federal Rules of Evidence and is not widely accepted. State v. Ross, 122 N.M. 15, 919 P.2d 1080, 1086-87 (1996). HRE Rule 804(b)(8) is likewise not a firmly rooted hearsay exception. See Wright, 497 U.S. at 817, 110 S.Ct. 3139 (holding that Idaho's residual hearsay exception, Idaho Rules of Evidence (IRE) Rule 803(24), [13] was not a firmly rooted hearsay exception). The United States Supreme Court explained: Admission under a firmly rooted hearsay exception satisfies the constitutional requirement of reliability because of the weight accorded longstanding judicial and legislative experience in assessing the trustworthiness of certain types of out-of-court statements. The residual hearsay exception, by contrast, accommodates ad hoc instances in which statements not otherwise falling within a recognized hearsay exception might nevertheless be sufficiently reliable to be admissible at trial. Wright, 497 U.S. at 817, 110 S.Ct. 3139 (citations omitted).