Rule 805 Hearsay Within Hearsay

Here's a plain English summary of this rule:

Sometimes a statement contains another statement inside it, like when someone says "John told me that Mary said she saw the accident." This creates layers of hearsay, since you have one person reporting what another person said about what a third person said.

This kind of layered statement can still be used as evidence, but only if every single layer meets its own exception to the hearsay rule. It's not enough for just one part to qualify. Each piece of the chain has to fit under some recognized exception before a court will allow it in.

For example, if a business record contains a customer's complaint, the business record itself might qualify under one exception, but the customer's complaint inside it would need to qualify under a different exception. If either layer fails to meet an exception, the whole statement gets blocked as hearsay, even if part of it would otherwise be allowed.