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Rule 805 Hearsay within hearsay.

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Rule Text

Hearsay included within hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the combined statements conforms with an exception to the hearsay rule provided in these rules.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Sometimes a statement contains another statement inside it, and both are being offered to prove something is true. This is called "hearsay within hearsay," or double hearsay. A common example is a written report that quotes what someone else said.

This rule says that kind of layered statement can still be used as evidence, but only if every layer fits its own exception to the hearsay rule. It is not enough for just one part to qualify. Each statement inside the other has to independently meet the requirements for an exception before a court will allow it in.

For example, imagine a business record that includes a customer's comment. The business record itself might qualify under the business records exception. But the customer's comment inside it also needs its own valid reason to be let in, separate from the business record exception. If either layer fails to meet an exception, that part of the evidence cannot be used.

Committee Notes

Advisory Committee’s Notes

Instances arise in which an out-of-court statement by one declarant contains a statement made by yet another declarant. Such instances are variously termed “hearsay within hearsay,” “totem pole hearsay,” or “multiple hearsay.” A may take the stand, for example, to tell what B said C had said. The fact that one statement qualifies as coming within a hearsay exception does not necessarily ensure that the other statement so qualifies. Rule 805 sets out the analysis that is to be applied to whether such multiple hearsay is admissible. Each declarant’s statement, considered individually, must satisfy the hearsay concern by either qualifying under a hearsay exception or being, by definition, nonhearsay. Suppose, for example, that the declarant, in an offered statement made under belief of impending death, states what another person was heard to say at the scene of a crime. The declarant’s statement may be admissible under the exception specifically created for such statements under belief of impending death. See Ala.R.Evid. 804(b)(2). However, that portion that reveals the statement of another must, in its own right, be admissible over a hearsay objection; the admissibility could come, for example, under the declaration against interest exception if the declarant is unavailable. See Ala.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). Alternatively, and by way of illustration, the second declarant’s statement could qualify as an excited utterance. See Ala.R.Evid. 803(2).

The multiple hearsay analysis set forth in this rule is consistent with preexisting Alabama authority. This analysis has been applied to business records containing both double and even triple hearsay. See Reeves v. King, 534 So.2d 1107 (Ala.1988). See also C. Gamble, McElroy’s Alabama Evidence § 254.01(2) (4th ed. 1991).

Rule 805 is identical to its federal counterpart.

← Previous Rule 804: Hearsay exceptions; declarant unavailable. Next → Rule 806: Attacking and supporting credibility of declarant.

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Last updated: September 2026

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