In a seminal public records exception case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that, where proffered hearsay evidence is inadmissible under the public records exception against a criminal defendant, the government cannot attempt to “backdoor” the evidence in through the business records exception - or any other hearsay exception. The Second Circuit’s rule departs from the general principle that hearsay inadmissible under one exception is nonetheless admissible pursuant to another hearsay exception. In effect, the public records exception contains an additional rule against hearsay. Read my complete article, beginning on page 12 of the Federal Bar Association's Fall 2017 SideBar publication.
