Court Opinion

ID: 9509207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:44:01.278229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:46.137903
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TRIEWEILER
specially concurring.
I concur with the result of the majority opinion and would likewise affirm the judgment of the District Court. However, I do not agree with all of the majority’s reasons for its decisions. Specifically, I disagree that the statements referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, and 4 under Issue I were exceptions to the hearsay rule. I conclude that the statements were admissible because they were not hearsay at all. “Hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Rule 801(c), M.R.Evid. (emphasis added).
*328None of the statements referred to above were offered to prove the truth of what the out-of-court declarant had said. The issue with regard to those statements was whether they had been made at all. That issue depended on the truthfulness of the witness who testified in court that the statements had been made.
For example, the State did not offer Alan Foster’s statement that he “didn’t mean to do it” to prove that he unintentionally killed Russell McCord. If that statement were true, it would have been a defense to the charges against the defendant.
Because I do not believe that statements 1, 2, and 4 were hearsay, I cannot conclude that they come within any exception to the hearsay rule. I otherwise concur in the majority opinion.