(725 ILCS 5/115-10.2a)
Sec. 115-10.2a. Admissibility of prior statements in domestic violence prosecutions when the witness is unavailable to testify.
(a) In a domestic violence prosecution, a statement, made by an individual identified in Section 201 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 as a person protected by that Act, that is not specifically covered by any other hearsay exception but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness, is not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is identified as unavailable as defined in subsection (c) and if the court determines that:
(1) the statement is offered as evidence of a
material fact; and
(2) 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
(3) the general purposes of this Section and the
interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence.
(b) 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 the statement, including the name and address of the declarant.
(c) Unavailability as a witness includes circumstances in which the declarant:
(1) is exempted by ruling of the court on the ground
of privilege from testifying concerning the subject matter of the declarant's statement; or
(2) persists in refusing to testify concerning the
subject matter of the declarant's statement despite an order of the court to do so; or
(3) testifies to a lack of memory of the subject
matter of the declarant's statement; or
(4) is unable to be present or to testify at the
hearing because of health or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or
(5) is absent from the hearing and the proponent of
the statement has been unable to procure the declarant's attendance by process or other reasonable means; or
(6) is a crime victim as defined in Section 3 of the
Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act and the failure of the declarant to testify is caused by the defendant's intimidation of the declarant as defined in Section 12-6 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
(d) A declarant is not unavailable as a witness if exemption, refusal, claim of lack of memory, inability, or absence is due to the procurement or wrongdoing of the proponent of a statement for purpose of preventing the witness from attending or testifying.
(e) Nothing in this Section shall render a prior statement inadmissible for purposes of impeachment because the statement was not recorded or otherwise fails to meet the criteria set forth in this Section.
(Source: P.A. 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13.)
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Last modified: February 18, 2015