Opinion ID: 1136544
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of the Police Report.

Text: The police report was not offered by the defendant to prove the truth of its contents but to show that it did not contain the information which Mrs. Barretto said it contained. Therefore, it was not vulnerable to the hearsay objection. As Wigmore has said: [w]here the utterance of specific words is itself a part of the details of the issue under the substantive law and the pleadings, their utterance may be proved without violation of the Hearsay rule, because they are not offered to evidence the truth of the matter that may be asserted therein. 6 Wigmore on Evidence § 1770 at 185 (3d ed. 1940); see Territory v. Williams, 41 Haw. 348, 352-353 (1956); People v. Jones, 293 Mich. 409, 292 N.W. 350 (1940). The defendant wanted the police report admitted to show that Mrs. Barretto could not have gained the information concerning the boys' intoxicated condition from it. This omission gave rise to an inference of firsthand knowledge as a source of this information. Since Marlene and Mrs. Barretto had at least equal opportunities to view the defendant and Ito, with Marlene actually getting into the car next to the defendant, the argument of assumption of risk would have been bolstered by the admission of the police report.