Rule 805 Hearsay Within Hearsay

Sometimes a statement contains two layers of hearsay. For example, a document might quote what someone else said, and that person was also repeating what they heard from another person. This is called "hearsay within hearsay."

Both layers need to qualify under a hearsay exception for the statement to be allowed in court. If even one layer does not meet an exception, the whole statement gets blocked. You cannot use the outer layer to sneak in an inner layer that would otherwise be kept out.