{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-12-12-2804","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 12-2804","heading":"Hearsay exception - Declarant unavailable","body":"A. \"Unavailability as a witness\", as used in this section,\n\nincludes the situation in which the declarant:\n\n1. Is exempt by ruling of the court on the ground of privilege\n\nfrom testifying concerning the subject matter or of the declarant's\n\nstatement;\n\n2. Persists in refusing to testify concerning the subject\n\nmatter of the declarant's statement despite an order of the court to\n\ndo so;\n\n3. Testifies to a lack of memory of the subject matter of the\n\ndeclarant's statement;\n\n4. Is unable to be present or to testify at the hearing because\n\nof death or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity;\n\nor\n\n5. Is absent from the hearing and the proponent of the\n\ndeclarant's statement has been unable to procure the declarant's\n\nattendance or, in the case of a hearsay exception under paragraphs\n\n2, 3 or 4 of subsection B of this section, the declarant's\n\nattendance or testimony, by process or other reasonable means.\n\nA declarant is not unavailable as a witness if the declarant's\n\nexemption, refusal, claim of lack of memory, inability or absence is\n\ndue to an act by the proponent of the declarant's statement for the\n\npurpose of preventing the witness from attending or testifying.\n\nB. The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the\n\ndeclarant is unavailable as a witness:\n\n1. Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same\n\nor another proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with\n\nlaw in the course of the same or another proceeding, if the party\n\nagainst whom the testimony is now offered or, in a civil action or\n\nproceeding, a predecessor in interest had an opportunity and similar\n\nmotive to develop the testimony by direct, cross or redirect\n\nexamination;\n\n2. In a prosecution for homicide or in a civil action or\n\nproceeding, a statement made by a declarant while believing that the\n\ndeclarant's death was imminent, concerning the cause or\n\ncircumstances of what the declarant believed to be the declarant's\n\nimpending death;\n\n3. A statement which was at the time of its making contrary to\n\nthe declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or which tended\n\nto subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, or to\n\nrender invalid a claim by the declarant against another, and which a\n\nreasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made\n\nunless the declarant believed it to be true. A statement tending to\n\nexpose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate\n\nthe accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances\n\nclearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. A statement\n\nor confession offered against the accused in a criminal case, made\n\nby a codefendant or other individual implicating both the\n\ncodefendant or other individual and the accused, is not within this\n\nexception;\n\n4. A statement concerning the declarant's own birth, adoption,\n\nmarriage, divorce, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship to another\n\nperson or other similar fact of personal or family history, even\n\nthough declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the\n\nmatter stated; or statement concerning the foregoing matters or\n\ndeath of another person, if the declarant was related to that person\n\nby blood, adoption or marriage or was so intimately associated with\n\nthe person's family as to be likely to have accurate information\n\nconcerning the matter declared; and\n\n5. A statement offered against a party that wrongfully caused\n\nor acquiesced in wrongfully causing the declarant's unavailability\n\nas a witness, and did so intending that result.","path":["OK Code","Title 12"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os12.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"0a11aabebd662aa7d03387d3592f6cf83c48520988532a53afaa098910f15f00","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-12-12-2803.3","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-12-12-2804.1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}