Opinion ID: 1807431
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: Condon's Statements to Mother

Text: Boppre attacks the district court's sustainment of objections by the State to two questions Boppre put to Condon's mother during her testimony. Boppre asked Condon's mother whether Condon had ever talked about any problems she and Valdez had at their house. The district court sustained the State's objection to the question on the ground that the question called for hearsay. After Condon's mother testified that Condon and Valdez went to Texas several weeks before their deaths and stayed for 10 days to 2 weeks, Boppre asked her if she knew why they went to Texas. The district court again sustained the State's objection to the question on the ground of hearsay and told the witness she could not repeat what someone else told [her]. Boppre concedes that the two questions sought hearsay answers, but argues that the catchall exception contained in § 27-804(2)(e) applies to the out-of-court statements sought to be introduced. That statutory rule sets forth a hearsay exception, where the declarant is unavailable, for a statement not specifically covered by any of the foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, if the court determines that (i) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact, (ii) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts, and (iii) the general purposes of these rules and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. A statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party, sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, his intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant. Boppre admits that he did not provide notice to the State that he was planning to offer the statements, but argues that such notice was unnecessary in this case because the defense had taken a deposition of the witness, on a prior occasion, in the presence of the State, at which time those matters were inquired into. Brief for appellant at 37-38. In State v. Leisy, 207 Neb. 118, 295 N.W.2d 715 (1980), we considered and rejected a similar argument. There, the defendant argued that certain hearsay evidence should have been admitted under § 27-804(2)(e). We concluded at 129-30, 295 N.W.2d at 723: The ruling of the court in rejecting the offer was correct.... The proponent did not make known to the adverse party the proposal to use the hearsay testimony. The giving of such notice is one of the requirements necessary to make such evidence admissible. The prosecutor did know of Mrs. Schafer's statement and, because of her emotional condition, had agreed not to call her. He did not know, however, that the defense proposed to use her out-of-court statement. The defendant argues that, under these circumstances, the giving of the notice was unnecessary. Two opinions of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have held that the pretrial notice requirement is to be rigidly enforced. [Citations omitted.] Some courts have held otherwise. [Citation omitted.] We hold that the notice requirement is mandatory. Thus, it is not enough that the adverse party is aware of the unavailable declarant's statement; the proponent of the evidence must provide notice to the adverse party of his intentions to use the statement in order to take advantage of the hearsay exception in § 27-804(2)(e). Because Boppre did not provide the necessary notice, he cannot take advantage of the exception. Moreover, because we have no indication of what Condon's statements to her mother were, we cannot determine whether the statements have the necessary circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, nor can we determine whether the statements were offered as evidence of material fact. The district court did not err in refusing to allow Condon's mother to testify concerning statements Condon had made.