Opinion ID: 1368892
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did the trial court err in declaring four witnesses unavailable under ER 804, allowing prior testimony to beH>admitted?

Text: The defendants next challenge the trial court's ruling that four witnesses for the plaintiff were unavailable, allowing the plaintiff to read into the record their previous testimony from the criminal RICO trial of these defendants. The plaintiff states the witnesses did satisfy the test of unavailability. [3] ER 804(a)(5) defines a witness as unavailable if the witness [i]s absent from the hearing and the proponent of his statement has been unable to procure his attendance ... by process or other reasonable means. If a witness is found unavailable under this test, the witness' former testimony may be admitted into evidence under ER 804(b)(1). As the rule indicates, an inability to reach the witness by subpoena power is not sufficient to establish unavailability; the party calling the witness must also establish an inability to reach the witness by other reasonable means. The party offering the out-of-court statement of a witness beyond the legal reach of a subpoena should at least be required to represent to the court that it made an effort to secure the voluntary attendance of the witnesses at trial. 5A K. Tegland, Wash. Prac., Evidence § 393, at 271 (2d ed. 1982). Counsel for the plaintiff represented to the trial court that the witnesses found unavailable here were out of the state, two in federal prisons, and two employed as federal agents in other states. The record, however, gives no indication counsel made any effort to obtain the voluntary attendance of the witnesses. Plaintiff claims an inability to subpoena the witnesses is alone sufficient to establish unavailability. This view contradicts both the plain language of the rule and the commentary. While plaintiff made unsupported statements to the trial court that the costs of bringing the witnesses to this state would be prohibitive, these unsupported representations do not alone merit a conclusion the witnesses were unavailable, nor do they indicate any effort by the plaintiff to make a reasonable effort to obtain the attendance of the witnesses. Since no showing of unavailability was made, the trial court erred in admitting the former testimony of the plaintiff's witnesses. The admission of evidence without a proper showing of unavailability of the witness is reversible error. 4 D. Louisell & C. Mueller, Federal Evidence § 486, at 1055-56 (1980) (it should be necessary for a party invoking one of the exceptions in Rule 804(b) to represent to the court that it communicated with the declarant (or tried to do so) in an effort to secure his voluntary attendance at trial); Janich Bros. v. American Distilling Co., 570 F.2d 848, 859 (9th Cir.1977) (counsel made conclusory allegations that [the witness] was outside the jurisdiction of the court. This is inadequate.... Thus, the ... exception was not available). The admission of prior testimony was error.