2020 Georgia Code
Title 24 - Evidence
Chapter 8 - Hearsay
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 24-8-806. Attacking and Supporting Credibility of a Declarant
When a hearsay statement has been admitted in evidence, the credibility of the declarant may be attacked and, if attacked, may be supported by any evidence which would be admissible for those purposes if the declarant had testified as a witness. Evidence of a statement or conduct by the declarant at any time, inconsistent with the declarant's hearsay statement, shall not be subject to any requirement that the declarant may have been afforded an opportunity to deny or explain. If the party against whom a hearsay statement has been admitted calls the declarant as a witness, the party shall be entitled to examine the declarant on the statement as if under cross-examination.
(Code 1981, §24-8-806, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.)
Cross references.- Attacking and supporting the declarant's credibility, Fed. R. Evid. 806.
Editor's notes.- In light of the reenactment of this Title, effective January 1, 2013, the reader is advised to consult the annotations following Code Section 24-8-803 for notes on hearsay declarants.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Prior inconsistent statement.
- Trial court did not err in admitting extrinsic evidence of the cousin's prior inconsistent statements because the state complied with the prerequisites of O.C.G.A. § 24-6-613(b) as both the prosecutor and defense counsel examined the witness as to each of the prior inconsistent statements and the witness was afforded an opportunity to explain or to deny the prior inconsistent statements, which entitled the prosecutor to ask leading questions. McNair v. State, 330 Ga. App. 478, 767 S.E.2d 290 (2014).
Absent declarant impeached with former conviction.
- Because the defendant's accountant had authored a chart regarding billing and finance for two disabled men in the defendant's unlicensed personal care home and the accountant did not testify, the information in the chart was hearsay under O.C.G.A. § 24-8-801(c), and the state was entitled to impeach the accountant's credibility with a former conviction, O.C.G.A. § 24-8-806. Hawkins v. State, 350 Ga. App. 862, 830 S.E.2d 301 (2019).
Telephone statements.
- Witness's hearsay testimony about the defendant's statements to the witness on the telephone shortly after a robbery and shooting in the witness's front yard was admissible against the co-defendant in their joint trial under the co-conspirator exception; however, the defendant's statements exonerating the co-defendant during the defendant's plea hearing were not admissible to impeach the telephone statements. Esprit v. State, 305 Ga. 429, 826 S.E.2d 7 (2019).
Exclusion of impeaching conviction harmless, if error.
- Assuming that the trial court's exclusion of a hearsay declarant's certified conviction was error, the error was harmless because counsel was able to elicit testimony regarding the conviction, and the copy would have been merely cumulative. Redding v. State, 307 Ga. 722, 838 S.E.2d 282 (2020).
