Court Opinion

ID: 9701170
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:08:19.724253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:20.364287
License: Public Domain

CAVANAUGH, Judge,
concurring:
I join in Judge Wickersham’s exemplary opinion which well decides this troublesome custody case. However, since apparently this is a case of first impression in Pennsylvania on an important evidential matter, i.e., the scope of the exception to the hearsay rule for an assertion against interest, I take this opportunity to offer my view as to the proper formulation of the exception.
An out-of-court assertion, offered to prove its truth, should be excepted to the hearsay rule if (1) the declarant is unavailable at trial, and (2) the assertion was at the time of its making so far contrary to the declarant’s interest that a reasonable person in his position would not have made the assertion unless he believed it to be true.
It doesn’t matter whether the offended personal interest be labeled pecuniary, proprietary, penal, social, or by some other descriptive term. The important thing is that, taking into consideration the circumstances in which the assertion was made, it be so self-damaging that a reasonable declarant would not have made it unless he was convinced that it *420was true. This indicium of reliability makes such an assertion substantially more trustworthy than hearsay in general, thus meriting exception to the hearsay rule.
This inclusive definition of the hearsay exception for an assertion against interest is consistent with views expressed by many leading commentators on the law. See American Law Institute, Model Code of Evidence, Rule 509; National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Uniform Rules of Evidence (1974 version), Rule 804(b)(3); Binder, The Hearsay Handbook (Second Edition) § 29.04; Jones on Evidence (Sixth Edition) § 9:9; Jefferson, Declarations Against Interest: An Exception to the Hearsay Rule (1944) 58 Harvard Law Review 1; Morgan, Declarations Against Interest (1952) 5 Vanderbilt Law Review 451.