Delaware Trial Handbook § 16:8. ATTACKING AND SUPPORTING THE CREDIBILITY OF THE DECLARANT

When a hearsay statement or an admission of a party opponent has been admitted into 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 hearsay statement, is not subject to the requirement that they 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 the declarant on the statement as if under cross-examination.150

150. D.R.E. 806. See also Longfellow v. State, 688 A.2d 1370 (Del), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1125 (1997); Miller v. State, No. 236, 1994, slip op. at 7, Hartnett, J. (Del. May 9, 1995) (ORDER), disposition reported at 660 A.2d 394 (Del. 1995) (TABLE) (where a statement is admitted under an exception to the hearsay rule, D.R.E. 806 permits the credibility of the declarant to be attacked by introducing a statement by the declarant that is inconsistent with the original hearsay statement so as to raise a doubt as to the truthfulness of either statement).

© 2010  David L. Finger