Opinion ID: 1874198
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Miscellaneous Hearsay.

Text: Appellant also complains of Davidson's trial testimony that Roberts told her of problems between Appellant and Roberts. Because of her frail health, the trial court had permitted the Commonwealth to preserve Davidson's testimony by a pretrial deposition. During that deposition, the prosecutor asked Davidson extensively about what Roberts had told her about these problems. Appellant objected on hearsay grounds and the trial court sustained these objections. Consequently, when Davidson testified at trial, the prosecutor asked for a bench conference before examining Davidson on these matters. During this conference, defense counsel told the prosecutor to just lead her [Davidson] right into that, effectively waiving any objection to the general leading question that elicited from Davidson evidence of the problems between Roberts and Appellant. Finally, Appellant complains of Michelle Roberts's testimony repeating statements made to her over the telephone by an employee of Cincinnati Bell about her mother's long-distance telephone charges. While this testimony was inadmissible hearsay, its admission was harmless error. The relevant inquiry under the harmless error doctrine `is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the evidence complained of might have contributed to the conviction.' Jarvis, 960 S.W.2d at 471 (quoting Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 86-87, 84 S.Ct. 229, 230-32, 11 L.Ed.2d 171, 173 (1963)). The Commonwealth had already established these facts through the introduction of telephone billing records, admitted under the business records exception to the hearsay rule, KRE 803(6). Further, Appellant has never contested the amount of the long-distance telephone charges or that the charges were incurred by him. Thus, Michelle's hearsay testimony was harmless error. Id.