The Colorado Rules of Evidence - Part 2

Hearsay is not admissible except as provided by these rules or by the civil and criminal procedural rules applicable to the courts of Colorado or by any statutes of the State of Colorado.

The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:

1. Spontaneous present sense impression.A spontaneous statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition.
2. Excited utterance.A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition.
3. Then existing mental, emotional, or physical condition.A statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, and bodily health), but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed unless it relates to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of declarant’s will.
4. Statements for purposes of medical diagnosis.Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source thereof insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.
5. Recorded recollection.A past recollection recorded when it appears that the witness once had knowledge concerning the matter and; (A) can identify the memorandum or records, (B) adequately recalls the making of it at or near the time of the event, either as recorded by the witness or by another, and (C) can testify to its accuracy. The memorandum or record may be read into evidence but may not itself be received unless offered by an adverse party.
6. Records of regularly conducted activity.A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnosis, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate a lack of trustworthiness. The term “business” as used in this paragraph includes business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit.
7. Absence of entry in records kept in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (6). Evidence that a matter is not included in the memoranda reports, records, or data compilations, in any form, kept in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (6), to prove the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of the matter, if the matter was of a kind of which a memorandum, report, record, or data compilation was regularly made and preserved, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.
8. Public records and reports.Unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness, records, reports, statements, or date compilations in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth (A) the activities of the office or agency, or (B) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel, or (C) in civil actions and proceedings and against the Government in criminal cases, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law.
9. Records of vital statistics.Records or date compilations, in any form, or births, fetal deaths, deaths, or marriages, if the report thereof was made to a public office pursuant to requirements of law.
10. Absence of public record or entry.To prove the absence of a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form or the non-occurrence or nonexistence of a matter of which a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, was regularly made and preserved by a public office or agency, evidence in the form of a certification in accordance with Rule 902, or testimony, that diligent search failed to disclose the record, report, statement, or data compilation, or entry.
11. Records of religious organizations.Statements of births, marriages, divorces, deaths, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship by blood or marriage, or other similar facts of personal or family history, contained in a regularly kept record of a religious organization.
12. Marriage, baptismal, and similar certificates.Statements of fact contained in a certificate that the maker performed a marriage or other ceremony or administered a sacrament, made by a clergyman, public official, or other person authorized by the rules of practices of a religious organization or by law to perform the act certified, and purporting to have been issued at the time of the act or within a reasonable time thereafter.
13. Family records.Statements of fact concerning personal or family history contained in family Bibles, genealogies, charts, engravings on rings, inscriptions on family portraits, engravings on urns, crypts, or tombstones, or the like.
14. Records of documents affecting an interest in property.The record of a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property, as proof of the content of the original recorded or filed document and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have been executed, if the record is a record of a public office and an applicable statute authorizes the recording of documents of that kind in the office.
15. Statements in documents affecting an interest in property.A statement contained in a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property if the matter stated was relevant to the purpose of the documents, unless dealings with the property since the document was made have been inconsistent with the truth of the statement or the purport of the document.
16. Statements in ancient documents.Statements in a document in existence twenty years or more the authenticity of which is established.
17. Market reports, commercial publications.Market quotations, tabulations, lists, directories, or other published compilations, generally used and relied upon by the public or by persons in particular occupations.
18. Learned treatises.To the extent called to the attention of an expert witness upon cross-examination or relied upon by him in direct examination, statements contained in published treatises, periodicals, or pamphlets on a subject of history, medicine, or other science or art, established as a reliable authority by the testimony or admission of the witness or by other expert testimony or by judicial notice. If admitted, the statements may be read into evidence and may be received as exhibits, as the court permits.
19. Reputation concerning personal or family history.Reputation among members of his family by blood, adoption, or marriage, or among his associates, or in the community, concerning a person’s birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of his personal or family history.
20. Reputation concerning boundaries or general history. Reputation in a community, arising before the controversy, as to boundaries of or customs affecting lands in the community, and reputation as to events of general history important to the community or state or nation in which located.
21. Reputation as to character. Reputation of a person’s character among his associates or in the community.
22. Judgment of previous conviction.Evidence of a final judgment, entered after a trial or upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, adjudging a person guilty of a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year, to prove any fact essential to sustain the judgment, but not including, when offered by the Government in a criminal prosecution for purposes other than impeachment, judgments against persons other than the accused. The pendency of an appeal may be shown but does not affect admissibility.
23. Judgment as to personal, family, or general history, or boundaries . Judgments as proof of matters of personal, family or general history, or boundaries, essential to the judgment, if the same would be provable by evidence of reputation.

1. Definition of unavailability.“Unavailability as a witness” includes situations in which the declarant:
   1. is exempted by ruling of the court on the ground of privilege from testifying concerning the subject matter of his statement; or
   2. persists in refusing to testify concerning the subject matter of his statement despite an order of the court to do so; or
   3. testifies to a lack of memory of the subject matter of his statement; or
   4. is unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because of death or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or
   5. is absent from the hearing and the proponent of a statement has been unable to procure his attendance (or in the case of a hearsay exception under subdivision (b)(3) or (4) his attendance or testimony) by process or other reasonable means.

   A declarant is not unavailable as a witness if his exemption, refusal, claim of lack of memory, inability, or absence is due to the procurement or wrongdoing to the proponent of his statement for the purpose of preventing the witness from attending or testifying.

2. Hearsay exceptions.The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:
   1. Former testimony.Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same or a different proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom the testimony is now offered, or, in a civil action or proceeding, a predecessor in interest, had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination.
   2. (No Colorado Rule Codified)
   3. Statement against interest.A statement which was at the time of its making so far contrary to the declarant’s pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far tended to subject him to civil or criminal liability, or to render invalid a claim by him against another, that a reasonable man in his position would not have made the statement unless he believed it to be true. A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate the accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.
   4. Statement of personal or family history. (A) A statement concerning the declarant’s own birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of personal or family history, even though declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter stated; or (B) a statement concerning the foregoing matters, and death also, of another person, if the declarant was related to the other by blood, adoption, or marriage or was so intimately associated with the other’s family as to be likely to have accurate information concerning the matter declared.

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.

When a hearsay statement, or a statement defined in Rule 801(d)(2), (C), (D), or (E), 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 declarant had testified as a witness. Evidence of a statement or conduct by the declarant at any time, inconsistent with his hearsay statement, is not subject to any requirement that he 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 is entitled to examine him on the statement as if under cross-examination.

A statement not specifically covered by Rule 803 or 804 but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, is not excluded by the hearsay rule, if the court determines that (A) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact; (B) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and (C) the general purposes of these rules and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence.. However, a statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, the proponent’s intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it, including the name and address of the declarant.

1. General provision.The requirement of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims.
2. Illustration.By way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation, the following are examples of authentication or identification conforming with the requirements of this rule:
   1. Testimony of witness with knowledge.Testimony that a matter is what it is claimed to be.
   2. Non-expert opinion on handwriting. Non-expert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of the litigation.
   3. Comparison by trier or expert witness. Comparison by the trier of fact or by expert witnesses with specimens which have been authenticated.
   4. Distinctive characteristics and the like.Appearance, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics, taken in conjunction with circumstances.
   5. Voice identification. Identification of a voice, whether heard firsthand or through mechanical or electronic transmission or recording, by opinion based upon hearing the voice at any time under circumstances connecting it with the alleged speaker.
   6. Telephone conversations.Telephone conversations, by evidence that a call was made to the number assigned at the time by the telephone company to a particular person or business, if (A) in the case of a person, circumstances, including self-identification, show the person answering to be the one called, or (B) in the case of business, the call was made to a place of business and the conversation related to business reasonably transacted over the telephone.
   7. Public records or reports.Evidence that a writing authorized by law to be recorded or filed and in fact recorded or filed in a public office, or a purported public record, report, statement, or date compilation, in any form, is from the public office where items of this nature are kept.
   8. Ancient documents or data compilation.Evidence that a document or data compilation, in any form, (A) is in such condition as to create no suspicion concerning its authenticity, (B) was in a place where it, if authentic, would likely be, and (C) has been in existence 20 years or more at the time it is offered.
   9. Process or system.Evidence describing a process or system used to produce a result and showing that the process or system produces an accurate result.
   10. Methods provided by statute or rule. Any method of authentication or identification provided by Colorado Rules of Procedure, or by statute of the State of Colorado.

Extrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent to admissibility is not required with respect to the following:

1. Domestic public documents under seal.A document bearing a seal purporting to be that of the United States, or of any State, district, Commonwealth, territory, or insular possession thereof, or the Panama Canal Zone, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or of a political subdivision, department, officer or agency thereof, and a signature purporting to be an attestation or execution.
2. Domestic public documents not under seal. A document purporting to bear the signature in his official capacity of an officer or employee of any entity included in paragraph (1) hereof, having no seal, if a public officer having a seal and having official duties in the district or political subdivision of the officer or employee certifies under seal that the signer had the official capacity and that the signature is genuine.
3. Foreign public documents.A document purporting to be executed or attested in his official capacity by a person authorize by the laws of a foreign country to make the execution or attestation, and accompanied by a final certification a to the genuineness of signature and official position (A) of the executing or attesting person, or (B) of any foreign official whose certificate of genuineness of signature and official position relates to the execution or attestation or is in a chain of certificates of genuineness of signature and official position relating to the execution or attestation. A final certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United States, or a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to the United States. If reasonable opportunity has been given to all parties to investigate the authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the court may, for good cause shown, order that they be treated as presumptively authentic without final certification or permit them to be evidenced by an attested summary with or without final certification.
4. Certified copes of public records.A copy of an official record or report or entry therein, or of a document authorized by law to be recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed in a public office, including data compilations in any form, certified as correct by the custodian or other person authorized to make the certification, by certificate complying with paragraph (1), (2), or (3) or this rule or complying with any Federal or Colorado Rule of Procedure, or with any Act of the United States Congress, or any statute of the State of Colorado.
5. Official publications. Books, pamphlets, or other publications purporting to be issued by public authority.
6. Newspapers and periodicals.Printed materials purporting to be newspapers or periodicals.
7. Trade inscriptions and the like. Inscriptions, signs, tags, or labels purporting to have been affixed in the course of business and indicating ownership, control, or origin.
8. Acknowledged documents.Documents accompanied by a certificate of acknowledgment executed in the manner provided by law by a notary public or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments.
9. Commercial paper and related documents.Commercial paper, signatures thereon, and documents relating thereto to the extent provided by general commercial law.
10. Presumptions under legislative Act. Any signature, document, or other matter declared by Act of the Congress of the United States, or by any statute of the State of Colorado to be presumptively or prima facie genuine or authentic.
11. Certified domestic records of regularly conducted activity. The original or a duplicate of a domestic record of regularly conducted activity that would be admissible under Rule 803(6) if accompanied by an affidavit of its custodian or other qualified person, in a manner complying with any Colorado statute or rule prescribed by the Colorado Supreme Court, certifying that the record- (A) was made at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters set forth by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge of those matters; (B) was kept in the course of the regularly conducted activity; and (C) was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular practice. A party intending to offer a record into evidence under this paragraph must provide written notice of that intention to all adverse parties, and must make the record and affidavit available for inspection sufficiently in advance of their offer into evidence to provide an adverse party with a fair opportunity to challenge them.
12. Certified foreign records of regularly conducted activity.In a civil case, the original or a duplicate of a foreign record of regularly conducted activity that would be admissible under Rule 803(6) if accompanied by a written declaration by its custodian or other qualified person certifying that the record- (A) was made at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters set forth by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge of those matters; (B) was kept in the course of the regularly conducted activity; and (C) was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular practice. The declaration must be signed in a manner that, if falsely made, would subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of the country where the declaration is signed. A party intending to offer a record into evidence under this paragraph must provide written notice of that intention to all adverse parties, and must make the record and declaration available for inspection sufficiently in advance of their offer into evidence to provide an adverse party with a fair opportunity to challenge them.

The testimony of a subscribing witness is not necessary to authenticate a writing unless required by the laws of the jurisdiction whose laws govern the validity of the writing.

For purposes of this article the following definitions are applicable:

1. Writings and recordings.“Writings” and “recordings” consist of letters, words, or numbers, or their equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, magnetic impulse, mechanical or electronic recording, or other form of data compilation.
2. Photographs. “Photographs” include still photographs, X-ray films, video tapes, and motion pictures.
3. Original. An “original” of a writing or recording is the writing or recording itself or any counterpart intended to have the same effect by a person executing or issuing it. An “original” of a photograph includes the negative or any print therefrom. If data are stored in a computer or similar device, any printout or other output readable by sight, shown to reflect the data accurately, is an “original”.
4. Duplicate.A “duplicate” is a counterpart produced by the same impression as the original, or from the same matrix, or by means of photography, including enlargements and miniatures, or by mechanical or electronic re-recording, or by chemical reproduction, or by other equivalent techniques which accurately reproduce the original.

To prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph is required, except as otherwise provided in these rules or by statute of the State of Colorado or of the United States.

A duplicate is admissible to the same extent as an original unless (1) a genuine question is raised as to the authenticity of the original or (2) in the circumstances it would be unfair to admit the duplicate in lieu of the original.

The original is not required, and other evidence of the contents of a writing, recording, or photograph is admissible if:

1. Originals lost or destroyed.All originals are lost or have been destroyed, unless the proponent lost or destroyed them in bad faith; or
2. Original not obtainable.No original can be obtained by any available judicial process or procedure; or
3. Original in possession of opponent.At a time when an original was under the control of the party against whom offered, he was put on notice, by the pleadings or otherwise, that the contents would be a subject of proof at the haring, and he does not produce the original at the hearing; or
4. Collateral matters.The writing, recording, or photograph is not closely related to a controlling issue.

The contents of an official record, or of a document authorized to be recorded, or filed and actually recorded or filed, including data compilations in any form, if otherwise admissible, may be proved by copy, certified as correct in accordance with Rule 902 or testified to be correct by a witness who has compared it with the original. If a copy which complies with the foregoing cannot be obtained by the exercise of reasonable diligence, then other evidence of the contents may be given.

The contents of voluminous writings, recordings, or photographs which cannot conveniently be examined in court may be presented in the form of a chart, summary, or calculation. The originals or duplicates, shall be made available for examination or copying, or both, by other parties at reasonable time and place. The court may order that they be produced in court.

Contents of writings, recordings, or photographs may be proved by the testimony or deposition of the party against whom offered or by his written admission, without accounting for the nonproduction of the original.

When the admissibility of other evidence of contents of writings, recordings, or photographs under these rules depends upon the fulfillment of a condition of fact, the question whether the condition has been fulfilled is ordinarily for the court to determine in accordance with the provisions of Rule 104. However, when an issue is raised (a) whether the asserted writing ever existed, or (b) whether another writing, recording, or photograph produced at the trial is the original, or (c) whether other evidence of contents correctly reflects the contents, the issue is for the trier of fact to determine as in the case of other issues of fact.

1. Courts.These rules apply to all courts in the State of Colorado.
2. Proceedings generally.These rules apply generally to civil actions, the criminal proceedings, and to contempt proceedings, except those in which the court may act summarily.
3. Rule of privilege. The rule with respect to privileges applies at all stages of all actions, cases, and proceedings.
4. Rules inapplicable.The rules (other than with respect to privileges) do not apply in the following situations:
   1. Preliminary questions of fact.The determination of questions of fact preliminary to admissibility of evidence when the issue is to be determined by the court under Rule 104.
   2. Grand jury. Proceedings before grand juries.
   3. Miscellaneous proceedings. Proceedings for extradition or rendition; preliminary examinations in criminal cases; sentencing, or granting or revoking probation; issuance of warrants for arrest, criminal summonses, and search warrants; and proceedings with respect to release on bail or otherwise.
   4. Rules applicable in part.In any special statutory proceedings, these rules apply to the extent that matters of evidence are not provided for in the statutes which govern procedure therein.

These rules shall be known and cited as the Colorado Rules of Evidence, or CRE.

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