71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
Enrolled
Senate Bill 780
Sponsored by Senator BROWN (at the request of Attorney General
Hardy Myers)
CHAPTER ................
AN ACT
Relating to evidence; creating new provisions; and amending ORS
40.460.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 40.460 is amended to read:
40.460. The following are not excluded by ORS 40.455, even
though the declarant is available as a witness:
(1) (Reserved.)
(2) A statement relating to a startling event or condition made
while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by
the event or condition.
(3) A statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind,
emotion, sensation or physical condition, such as intent, plan,
motive, design, mental feeling, pain or bodily health, but not
including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact
remembered or believed unless it relates to the execution,
revocation, identification, or terms of the declarant's will.
(4) Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or
treatment and describing medical history, or past or present
symptoms, pain or sensations, or the inception or general
character of the cause of external source thereof insofar as
reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment.
(5) A memorandum or record concerning a matter about which a
witness once had knowledge but now has insufficient recollection
to enable the witness to testify fully and accurately, shown to
have been made or adopted by the witness when the matter was
fresh in the memory of the witness and to reflect that knowledge
correctly. If admitted, the memorandum or record may be read into
evidence but may not itself be received as an exhibit unless
offered by an adverse party.
(6) A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any
form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made
at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a
person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly
conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice
of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record,
or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the
custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of
information or the method of circumstances of preparation
indicate lack of trustworthiness. The term 'business' as used in
this subsection includes business, institution, association,
Enrolled Senate Bill 780 (SB 780-A) Page 1
profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not
conducted for profit.
(7) Evidence that a matter is not included in the memoranda,
reports, records, or data compilations, and in any form, kept in
accordance with the provisions of subsection (6) of this section,
to prove the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of the matter, if the
matter was of a kind of which a memorandum, report, record, or
data compilation was regularly made and preserved, unless the
sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of
trustworthiness.
(8) Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any
form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth:
(a) The activities of the office or agency;
(b) Matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to
which matters there was a duty to report, excluding however, in
criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law
enforcement personnel; or
(c) In civil actions and proceedings and against the government
in criminal cases, factual findings, resulting from an
investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless
the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack
of trustworthiness.
(9) Records or data compilations, in any form, of births, fetal
deaths, deaths or marriages, if the report thereof was made to a
public office pursuant to requirements of law.
(10) To prove the absence of a record, report, statement, or
data compilation, in any form, or the nonoccurrence or
nonexistence of a matter of which a record, report, statement, or
data compilation, in any form, was regularly made and preserved
by a public office or agency, evidence in the form of a
certification in accordance with ORS 40.510, or testimony, that
diligent search failed to disclose the record, report, statement,
or data compilation, or entry.
(11) Statements of births, marriages, divorces, deaths,
legitimacy, ancestry, relationship by blood or marriage, or other
similar facts of personal or family history, contained in a
regularly kept record of a religious organization.
(12) A statement of fact contained in a certificate that the
maker performed a marriage or other ceremony or administered a
sacrament, made by a clergyman, public official, or other person
authorized by the rules or practices of a religious organization
or by law to perform the act certified, and purporting to have
been issued at the time of the act or within a reasonable time
thereafter.
(13) Statements of facts concerning personal or family history
contained in family bibles, genealogies, charts, engravings on
rings, inscriptions on family portraits, engravings on urns,
crypts, or tombstones, or the like.
(14) The record of a document purporting to establish or affect
an interest in property, as proof of content of the original
recorded document and its execution and delivery by each person
by whom it purports to have been executed, if the record is a
record of a public office and an applicable statute authorizes
the recording of documents of that kind in that office.
(15) A statement contained in a document purporting to
establish or affect an interest in property if the matter stated
was relevant to the purpose of the document, unless dealings with
the property since the document was made have been inconsistent
with the truth of the statement or the purport of the document.
Enrolled Senate Bill 780 (SB 780-A) Page 2
(16) Statements in a document in existence 20 years or more the
authenticity of which is established.
(17) Market quotations, tabulations, lists, directories, or
other published compilations, generally used and relied upon by
the public or by persons in particular occupations.
(18) (Reserved.)
(18a)(a) A complaint of sexual misconduct { - or - }
{ + , + } complaint of abuse as defined in ORS 107.705 or
419B.005 { + , complaint of abuse of an elderly person, as those
terms are defined in ORS 124.050, or a complaint relating to a
violation of ORS 163.205 or 164.015 in which a person 65 years of
age or older is the victim, + } made by the witness after the
commission of the alleged misconduct or abuse at issue. Except as
provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, such evidence must
be confined to the fact that the complaint was made.
{ - (b) A statement made by a person concerning an act of
abuse, as defined in ORS 107.705 or 419B.005, is not excluded by
ORS 40.455 if the declarant either testifies at the proceeding
and is subject to cross-examination or was chronologically or
mentally under 12 years of age at the time the statement was made
and is unavailable as a witness. However, if a declarant is
unavailable, the - }
{ + (b) A statement made by a person concerning an act of
abuse as defined in ORS 107.705 or 419B.005, a statement made by
a person concerning an act of abuse of an elderly person, as
those terms are defined in ORS 124.050, or a statement made by a
person concerning a violation of ORS 163.205 or 164.015 in which
a person 65 years of age or older is the victim, is not excluded
by ORS 40.455 if the declarant either testifies at the proceeding
and is subject to cross-examination, or is unavailable as a
witness but was chronologically or mentally under 12 years of age
when the statement was made or was 65 years of age or older when
the statement was made. However, if a declarant is unavailable,
the + } statement may be admitted in evidence only if the
proponent establishes that the time, content and circumstances of
the statement provide indicia of reliability, and in a criminal
trial that there is corroborative evidence of the act of abuse
and of the alleged perpetrator's opportunity to participate in
the conduct and that the statement possesses indicia of
reliability as is constitutionally required to be admitted. No
statement may be admitted under this paragraph unless the
proponent of the statement makes known to the adverse party the
proponent's intention to offer the statement and the particulars
of the statement no later than 15 days before trial, except for
good cause shown. For purposes of this paragraph, in addition to
those situations described in ORS 40.465 (1), the declarant shall
be considered 'unavailable' if the declarant has a substantial
lack of memory of the subject matter of the statement, is
presently incompetent to testify, is unable to communicate about
the abuse or sexual conduct because of fear or other similar
reason or is substantially likely, as established by expert
testimony, to suffer lasting severe emotional trauma from
testifying. Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the court
shall examine the declarant in chambers and on the record or
outside the presence of the jury and on the record. The
examination shall be conducted immediately prior to the
commencement of the trial in the presence of the attorney and the
legal guardian or other suitable { - adult - } { + person + }
as designated by the court. If the declarant is found to be
unavailable, the court shall then determine the admissibility of
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the evidence. The determinations shall be appealable under ORS
138.060 (3). The purpose of the examination shall be to aid the
court in making its findings regarding the availability of the
declarant as a witness and the reliability of the statement of
the declarant. In determining whether a statement possesses
indicia of reliability under this paragraph, the court may
consider, but is not limited to, the following factors:
(A) The personal knowledge of the declarant of the event;
(B) The age and maturity of the declarant or extent of
disability if the declarant is a person with developmental
disabilities;
(C) Certainty that the statement was made, including the
credibility of the person testifying about the statement and any
motive the person may have to falsify or distort the statement;
(D) Any apparent motive the declarant may have to falsify or
distort the event, including bias, corruption or coercion;
(E) The timing of the statement of the declarant;
(F) Whether more than one person heard the statement;
(G) Whether the declarant was suffering pain or distress when
making the statement;
(H) Whether the declarant's young age or disability makes it
unlikely that the declarant fabricated a statement that
represents a graphic, detailed account beyond the knowledge and
experience of the declarant;
(I) Whether the statement has internal consistency or coherence
and uses terminology appropriate to the declarant's age or to the
extent of the declarant's disability if the declarant is a person
with developmental disabilities;
(J) Whether the statement is spontaneous or directly responsive
to questions; and
(K) Whether the statement was elicited by leading questions.
(c) This subsection applies to all civil, criminal and juvenile
proceedings.
(d) This subsection applies to a child declarant { + , a
declarant who is an elderly person as defined in ORS 124.050 + }
or an adult declarant with developmental disabilities. For the
purposes of this subsection, 'developmental disabilities' means
any disability attributable to mental retardation, autism,
cerebral palsy, epilepsy or other disabling neurological
condition that requires training or support similar to that
required by persons with mental retardation, if either of the
following apply:
(A) The disability originates before the person attains 22
years of age, or if the disability is attributable to mental
retardation the condition is manifested before the person attains
18 years of age, the disability can be expected to continue
indefinitely, and the disability constitutes a substantial
handicap to the ability of the person to function in society.
(B) The disability results in a significant subaverage general
intellectual functioning with concurrent deficits in adaptive
behavior that are manifested during the developmental period.
(19) Reputation among members of a person's family by blood,
adoption or marriage, or among a person's associates, or in the
community, concerning a person's birth, adoption, marriage,
divorce, death, legitimacy, relationship by blood or adoption or
marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of a person's personal
or family history.
(20) Reputation in a community, arising before the controversy,
as to boundaries of or customs affecting lands in the community,
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and reputation as to events of general history important to the
community or state or nation in which located.
(21) Reputation of a person's character among associates of the
person or in the community.
(22) Evidence of a final judgment, entered after a trial or
upon a plea of guilty, but not upon a plea of no contest,
adjudging a person guilty of a crime other than a traffic
offense, to prove any fact essential to sustain the judgment, but
not including, when offered by the government in a criminal
prosecution for purposes other than impeachment, judgments
against persons other than the accused. The pendency of an appeal
may be shown but does not affect admissibility.
(23) Judgments as proof of matters of personal, family or
general history, or boundaries, essential to the judgment, if the
same would be provable by evidence of reputation.
(24) Notwithstanding the limits contained in subsection (18a)
of this section, in any proceeding in which a child under 12
years of age at the time of trial, or a person with developmental
disabilities as described in subsection (18a)(d) of this section,
may be called as a witness to testify concerning an act of abuse,
as defined in ORS 419B.005, or sexual conduct performed with or
on the child or person with developmental disabilities by
another, the testimony of the child or person with developmental
disabilities taken by contemporaneous examination and
cross-examination in another place under the supervision of the
trial judge and communicated to the courtroom by closed circuit
television or other audiovisual means. Testimony will be allowed
as provided in this subsection only if the court finds that there
is a substantial likelihood, established by expert testimony,
that the child or person with developmental disabilities will
suffer severe emotional or psychological harm if required to
testify in open court. If the court makes such a finding, the
court, on motion of a party, the child, the person with
developmental disabilities or the court in a civil proceeding, or
on motion of the district attorney, the child or the person with
developmental disabilities in a criminal or juvenile proceeding,
may order that the testimony of the child or the person with
developmental disabilities be taken as described in this
subsection. Only the judge, the attorneys for the parties, the
parties, individuals necessary to operate the equipment and any
individual the court finds would contribute to the welfare and
well-being of the child or person with developmental disabilities
may be present during the testimony of the child or person with
developmental disabilities.
(25)(a) Any document containing data prepared or recorded by
the Oregon State Police pursuant to ORS 813.160 (1)(b)(C) or (E),
or pursuant to ORS 475.235 (3), if the document is produced by
data retrieval from the Law Enforcement Data System or other
computer system maintained and operated by the Oregon State
Police, and the person retrieving the data attests that the
information was retrieved directly from the system and that the
document accurately reflects the data retrieved.
(b) Any document containing data prepared or recorded by the
Oregon State Police that is produced by data retrieval from the
Law Enforcement Data System or other computer system maintained
and operated by the Oregon State Police and that is
electronically transmitted through public or private computer
networks under a digital signature adopted by the Oregon State
Police pursuant to ORS 192.825 to 192.855 if the person receiving
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the data attests that the document accurately reflects the data
received.
(c) Notwithstanding any statute or rule to the contrary, in any
criminal case in which documents are introduced under the
provisions of this subsection, the defendant may subpoena the
criminalist or other person that generated or keeps the original
document for the purpose of testifying at the preliminary hearing
and trial of the issue. Except as provided in ORS 44.550 to
44.566, no charge shall be made to the defendant for the
appearance of the criminalist or other person.
(26)(a) A statement that purports to narrate, describe, report
or explain an incident of domestic violence, as defined in ORS
135.230, made by a victim of the domestic violence within 24
hours after the incident occurred, if the statement:
(A) Was recorded, either electronically or in writing, or was
made to a peace officer as defined in ORS 161.015, corrections
officer, youth corrections officer, parole and probation officer,
emergency medical technician or firefighter; and
(B) Has sufficient indicia of reliability.
(b) In determining whether a statement has sufficient indicia
of reliability under paragraph (a) of this subsection, the court
shall consider all circumstances surrounding the statement. The
court may consider, but is not limited to, the following factors
in determining whether a statement has sufficient indicia of
reliability:
(A) The personal knowledge of the declarant.
(B) Whether the statement is corroborated by evidence other
than statements that are subject to admission only pursuant to
this subsection.
(C) The timing of the statement.
(D) Whether the statement was elicited by leading questions.
(E) Subsequent statements made by the declarant. Recantation by
a declarant is not sufficient reason for denying admission of a
statement under this subsection in the absence of other factors
indicating unreliability.
(27)(a) A statement not specifically covered by any of the
foregoing exceptions but having equivalent circumstantial
guarantees of trustworthiness, if the court determines that:
(A) The statement is relevant;
(B) The statement is more probative on the point for which it
is offered than any other evidence that the proponent can procure
through reasonable efforts; and
(C) The general purposes of the Oregon Evidence Code 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 subsection
unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party the
intention to offer the statement and the particulars of it,
including the name and address of the declarant, sufficiently in
advance of the trial or hearing, or as soon as practicable after
it becomes apparent that such statement is probative of the
issues at hand, to provide the adverse party with a fair
opportunity to prepare to meet it.
SECTION 2. { + The amendments to ORS 40.460 by section 1 of
this 2001 Act apply only to trials and other hearings commenced
on or after the effective date of this 2001 Act. + }
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Enrolled Senate Bill 780 (SB 780-A) Page 6
Passed by Senate April 16, 2001
...........................................................
Secretary of Senate
...........................................................
President of Senate
Passed by House June 4, 2001
...........................................................
Speaker of House
Enrolled Senate Bill 780 (SB 780-A) Page 7
Received by Governor:
......M.,............., 2001
Approved:
......M.,............., 2001
...........................................................
Governor
Filed in Office of Secretary of State:
......M.,............., 2001
...........................................................
Secretary of State
Enrolled Senate Bill 780 (SB 780-A) Page 8