The Hearsay Rule Essay Research Paper In — страница 4

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‘Sean rules 85′ which had been found near the gun. Scientific analysis showed that smears of ink on the gun matched the ink on the pieces of paper. Lydon appealed on the ground that the evidence linking him to the gun, that is, the references to Sean, was hearsay and ought not to have been admitted. The Court of Appeal held that the evidence referring to Sean had been properly admitted because it was ‘no more than a statement of fact involving no assertion as to the truth of the contents of the document’. The notes had not been relied on by the prosecution for the purpose of proving the truth of any express or implied assertion. The relevance of the note, as in R v. Rice, lay simply in the likelihood that the person who would write such notes would be called Sean. As

such, the evidence was not hearsay at all but circumstantial evidence from which the jury had been entitled to draw an inference that Lydon had disposed of the gun and therefore been involved in the robbery. Although the Court of Appeal did not approve R v. Rice, the reasoning applied suggests that that case was correctly decided. In R v. McIntosh [1992] the accused was charged with being concerned in the importation of cocaine and the prosecution were permitted to adduce a piece of paper of unknown authorship bearing calculations of the price and weight of a quantity of drugs. The piece of paper had been found concealed in the chimney of the house where the accused had been living prior to his arrest, and was held to be admissible real evidence which did not infringe the hearsay

rule. The document was not adduced for the purpose of proving the truth of the matters stated but simply to show the accused had an interest in the information it contained. The same reasoning applies to items such as a book which reveals the accused’s interest in a particular branch of knowledge. If the accused is charged with being involved in a joint enterprise to import cocaine, the mere fact he has a book entitled ‘The Cocaine Consumer’s Handbook’ would be relevant circumstantial evidence of his involvement (R v. Thrussell (1981) [1997]). The book would not be relied on as evidence of the truth of the matters stated therein so the hearsay rule would not apply. However, because a book on cocaine consumption would suggest a criminal disposition, the evidence would have

to satisfy the similar facts test before it could be admitted as real evidence.