Cite as: 513 U. S. 150 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
objection was made to Dr. Spiegel's testimony. Following trial, Tome was convicted and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed, adopting the Government's argument that all of A. T.'s out-of-court statements were admissible under Rule 801(d)(1)(B) even though they had been made after A. T.'s alleged motive to fabricate arose. The court reasoned that "the pre-motive requirement is a function of the relevancy rules, not the hearsay rules" and that as a "function of relevance, the pre-motive rule is clearly too broad . . . because it is simply not true that an individual with a motive to lie always will do so." 3 F. 3d 342, 350 (1993). "Rather, the relevance of the prior consistent statement is more accurately determined by evaluating the strength of the motive to lie, the circumstances in which the statement is made, and the declarant's demonstrated propensity to lie." Ibid. The court recognized that some Circuits require that the consistent statements, to be admissible under the Rule, must be made before the motive or influence arose, see, e. g., United States v. Guevara, 598 F. 2d 1094, 1100 (CA7 1979); United States v. Quinto, 582 F. 2d 224, 234 (CA2 1978), but cited the Ninth Circuit's decision in United States v. Miller, 874 F. 2d 1255, 1272 (1989), in support of its balancing approach. Applying this balancing test to A. T.'s first statement to her babysitter, the Court of Appeals determined that although A. T. might have had "some motive to lie, we do not believe that it is a particularly strong one." 3 F. 3d, at 351. The court held that the District Judge had not abused his discretion in admitting A. T.'s out-of-court statements. It did not analyze the probative quality of A. T.'s six other out-of-court statements, nor did it reach the admissibility of the statements under any other rule of evidence.
We granted certiorari, 510 U. S. 1109 (1994), and now reverse.
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