What are hearsay exclusions?

The purpose of the hearsay rule is to prevent unreliable, untested statements from being used as evidence in court. However, some types of out-of-court statements are considered reliable even though they appear as if they are hearsay. Given their value, these reliable types of statements are explicitly excluded from the hearsay rule and can be allowed as evidence. For example, an "excited utterance" made by a crime victim right after the crime occurs is seen as being spontaneous and genuine. So even though it is an out-of-court statement being used to prove the truth of what it asserts, it is admissible. Hearsay exclusions exist to allow these reliable kinds of hearsay into evidence.

We will be diving into each hearsay exclusion later in their own cards.