{"data":{"id":"us-ky/kre-804","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRE 804","heading":"Hearsay exceptions: declarant unavailable","body":"(a) Definition of unavailability. \"Unavailability as a witness\" includes situations in\nwhich the declarant:\n(1) Is exempted by ruling of the court on the ground of privilege from testifying\nconcerning the subject matter of the declarant's statement;\n(2) Persists in refusing to testify concerning the subject matter of the declarant's\nstatement despite an order of the court to do so;\n(3) Testifies to a lack of memory of the subject matter of the declarant's\nstatement;\n(4) Is unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because of death or then\nexisting physical or mental illness or infirmity; or\n(5) Is absent from the hearing and the proponent of the statement has been unable\nto procure the declarant's attendance by process or other reasonable means.\nA declarant is not unavailable as a witness if his exemption, refusal, claim of lack of\nmemory, inability, or absence is due to the procurement or wrongdoing of the\nproponent of a statement for the purpose of preventing the witness from attending\nor testifying.\n(b) Hearsay exceptions. The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the\ndeclarant is unavailable as a witness:\n(1) Former testimony. Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the\nsame or a different proceeding, or in a deposition taken in  compliance with\nlaw in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party against whom\nthe testimony is now offered, or, in a civil action or proceeding, a predecessor\nin interest, had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by\ndirect, cross, or redirect examination.\n(2) Statement under belief of impending death. In a criminal prosecution or in a\ncivil action or proceeding, a statement made by a declarant while believing\nthat the declarant's death was imminent, concerning the cau se or\ncircumstances of what the declarant believed to be his impending death.\n(3) Statement against interest. A statement which was at the time of its making so\nfar contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far tended\nto subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, or to render invalid a\nclaim by the declarant against another, that a reasonable person in the\ndeclarant's position would not have made the statement unless believing it to\nbe true. A statement tending to expos e the declarant to criminal liability is not\nadmissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the\ntrustworthiness of the statement.\n(4) Statements of personal or family history.\n(A) A statement concerning the declarant's own birth, adoption, marriage,\ndivorce, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage,\nancestry, or other similar fact of personal or family history, even though\ndeclarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter\nstated; or\n(B) A statement concerning the foregoing matters, and death also, of another\nperson, if the declarant was related to the other by blood, adoption, or\nmarriage or was so intimately associated with the other's family as to be\nlikely to have accurate information concerning the matter declared.\n(5) Forfeiture by wrongdoing. A statement offered against a party that has\nengaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure\nthe unavailability of the declarant as a witness.","path":["KENTUCKY RULES OF EVIDENCE ----- Legislative Research Commission Note (7/1/92). Although denominated \"rules,\" the elements of the Kentucky Rules of Evidence were enacted as statutes by the Kentucky General Assembly. See 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 88; 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 324. Originally codified as KRS Chapter 422A in 1990, the Kentucky Rules of Evidence were renumbered by the Reviser of Statutes, effective July 1, 1992, pursuant to 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 324, sec. 34. By an order dated May 12, 1992, the Kentucky Supreme Court \"adopt[ed] so much of the Kentucky Rules of Evidence as enacted by HB 241 [1992 Ky. Acts ch. 324] as comes within the rule making power of the Court, pursuant to Ky. Const. sec. 116.\""],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=20411","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T21:00:10Z","sha256":"c9deb9c18f085b9bb40c7129ccc349b3c94a41811fd5d649b70544194f1584ad","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/kre-803","next":"us-ky/kre-804a"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}