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Rescue 911: Court of Appeals of South Carolina Grapples With Double Hearsay Issue, by Colin Miller, EvidenceProf Blog

http://tinyurl.com/le3j6kf

Similar to its federal counterpart, South Carolina Rule of Evidence 805 provides that

Hearsay included within hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the combined statements conforms with an exception to the hearsay rule provided in these rules.

So, assume that a daughter reports to her mother that she was sexually assaulted and that the mother then calls 911 and relays what her daughter told her. Should the 911 call be admitted? According to the Court of Appeals of South Carolina in State v. Hendricks, 2014 WL 1614844 (S.C.App. 2014), the answer is ‘no.’ . . . .