"Objection, Hearsay" Meaning

Have you ever watched a true crime show and heard a lawyer say “Objection, Hearsay!” and had not clue what they were talking about?

We’ll discuss the meaning of “Objection, Hearsay!” to help you understand what the goal is, why the evidence is not allowed in court, exceptions to the hearsay rule, the role of objections in a court setting, how a judge can respond, and common misconceptions about hearsay.

I’m not a lawyer so I need to disclose:

Objection Hearsay Meaning

The meaning of "objection, hearsay" is used by lawyers in court to prevent the immediately prior testimony from being admitted into evidence. The hearsay rule 801 aims to prevent witnesses from providing unreliable second-hand statements as evidence in court. Witnesses must testify to what they have seen, heard, or experienced, not what they learned from others.

Hearsay is when a witness attempts to testify to information they heard from someone else outside of court. A statement is considered hearsay when it is offered to prove the truth of a statement made in court using information from outside of the court to prove the truthfulness of the statement.

Hearsay may be true, but it does not have to be. If the matter asserted cannot be cross examined by opposing counsel then it has to have a higher threshold to prevent the jury from becoming unfairly prejudicial.

For example, it would not be hearsay to say:

“I saw the defendant shoot my friend”

Meanwhile, it would be hearsay to say:

“I was at a party and I overheard John say he saw the defendant shoot my friend.”

John would need to come into court and testify to what he saw unless he is an unavailable witness.

Some Useful Definitions

Admissible Evidence

The National Institute of Justice explains admissible evidence is relevant, authentic, and legally obtained evidence that may be presented in court as documents, physical items, and testimonies. All evidence has to be:

• Authentic: Evidence must be real and unaltered. 

• Relevance: Evidence must help prove the case.

• Reliable: Evidence must have been collected properly, gone through the proper chain of custody, and analyzed using accepted legal standards.. 

• Legally Collected: There are laws and regulations about how information can be collected. For instance police can not break into a house, search a suspect without reading Miranda rights, or beat a suspect to get evidence. There is an exclusionary rule of law that prevents unconstitutionally collected evidence from being used in trials.

Each state has different rules to determine what is acceptable evidence. Judges will use the rules to establish whether the evidence pertains to the current trial.

The following types of evidence may cause the opposing attorney jump and say "Objection,"

• Hearsay: When a witness tries to testify about what someone else said, which is not reliable or able to be cross-examined 

• Unfairly prejudicial: Character evidence that makes the jury question someone's character unjustly would be an example of when someone would use this objection

• Leading questions: Lawyers use this when the other party asks questions in a way to get the answer they want.

• Argumentative: Lawyers use this objection when the opposing counsel re-ask the same question to get the witness to answer the question the way they want.

• Compound questions: A lawyer uses the compound questions objection to give a witness the ability to answer one question at a time. This prevents confusing jurors.

• Speculation: The speculation objection means that the witness cannot actually know the information they provided.

• Relevance: Questions whether the lawyer is wasting time.

• Assumes facts not in evidence: Lawyers use this when a question is not supported by prior acts.

• Foundation: This objection is to request enough information to verify the evidence has a sound foundational basis.

Opposing Counsel

Opposing counsel are the two legal teams in an active court case. Criminal cases have defense and prosecutor, while civil cases like a law suit have a plaintiff (the person filing the case) and defendant (person defending against the lawsuit).

In criminal cases, the opposing counsel to the defense is the prosecution, while the prosecution's opposing counsel is the defense.

In civil cases, the opposing counsel to the defendant is the plaintiff, while the plaintiff's opposing counsel is the defense attorney.

The Truth Of The Matter Asserted

The term "The truth of the matter asserted" is kind of tricky to understand. It's basically saying "It's true because I was told it's true." For example, if John told you "I did not run the red light," you can not possibly know this is true unless you were there and paying attention.

When you tell a court something like "John did not run the red light because he told me he did not," that's the truth of the matter asserted. Super confusing right? It's almost like circular thought.

Why is Hearsay Not Allowed In Court?

Hearsay is not allowed in court because courts have evidence thresholds to maintain integrity. This objection encourages witnesses to explain first hand knowledge that is open to a cross-examination. When someone passes on second or third-hand knowledge, it is hard to cross-examine to disprove the validity. 

When someone objects to hearsay and the judge accepts the objection, the information is struck from the record, but that doesn’t mean it is struck from jurors minds’.

When Is Hearsay Allowed?

There are some scenarios when hearsay is allowed. Hearsay exceptions include excited utterance, statements against interest, and business records.

What Is Excited Utterance?

An excited utterance is a statement that is made in immediate response to a stressful scenario. The reason for this exception is that people are less likely to lie when under duress. For a statement to be admissible as an excited utterance, it must be made during the heat of the moment.

For instance, if you're walking down the street and see a person stick a gun out of the car, you might instinctively yell something like "Duck!"

Testifying that someone yelled "Duck" in that scenario would theoretically be admissible evidence under the Hearsay rule.

What Are Statements Against Interest?

According to Bar Prep Hero statements against interest are any statement that would result in unfavorable financial or legal consequences in civil or criminal cases.

For instance, a serial killer admitting to murdering their victims would fall under this category because before they are convicted they have no reason to answer the question that could benefit them.

Why Are Business Records Exempt From Hearsay Rule?

According to Cornell Law School, business records are exempt from the hearsay rule because it is expected that the records are regularly maintained as part on formal business operations.

Business records including customer databases, employee time sheets, inventory logs, invoices, medical records, and sales receipts normally qualify to represent the truth of the matter without a witness's testimony as long as they meet the following requirements:

• Authentication: Confirmed to be true by someone with personal knowledge about the company's record-keeping practices. 

• Creation: The person who created the records must have knowledge of the event documented.

• Timeliness: Made at or near the time of the event it records. 

• Standard Operating Procedure: The records should document a normal business activity. Records out of the norm may not be an exception to hearsay evidence.

If the business documents meet all these principles a lawyer may offer evidence even if it would normally be inadmissible. Remember that most legal proceedings are public record which means sensitive business records may be accessible to an opposing party like a competitor.

The Role of Objection in Court

The role of objections in court is to keep the trial focused on relevant information in a fair manner. 

The role of “Objection, Hearsay!” is to specifically prevent something that cannot be cross examined from the record. 

After the prosecutor or defense attorney objects and provides their reason a judge has several options:

• Sustained: Agrees with the objection and the information is struck from the record.

• Overruled: The evidence is allowed.

• Reword: This is commonly if questions are asked as supposition, leading the witness, or other improper behaviors. 

• Sidebar: Judge, Prosecution, and Defense attorneys talk privately, then the judge gives a ruling. 

The judge will also advise the jury how to handle the information they were given. 

Common Misunderstandings About Hearsay

All statements made outside a courtroom are NOT hearsay.

While hearsay applies to statements made outside of a courtroom, each court has exceptions to what said out of court is permissible. Also if information is not proving a legal point it's likely not heresy.

Hearsay is NOT always bad.

Hearsay can be both positive or negative. It's just unsubstantiated and should not be admitted unless it can be substantiated.

Conclusion

Understanding the meaning of a hearsay objection is useful for witnesses, attorneys, and people reviewing true crime documentation and statements.

Just because information is useful and can help put together a compelling story in the best true crime podcasts and blogs, doesn't mean that it will be admissible in court.

At this point you should understand the definition of hearsay, and whether the information sounds inadmissible. Don't forget only attorneys can give legal advice and I am just writing this for informational purposes.

What other information would you like us to dig into about true crime, criminology, and serial killers?