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(725 ILCS 5/115-10.2a)
Sec. 115-10.2a.
Admissibility of prior statements in domestic violence
prosecutions when the witness is unavailable to testify.
(a) In a domestic violence prosecution, a statement, made by an
individual identified in Section 201 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of
1986 as a person protected by that Act, that is not specifically covered by
any other hearsay exception but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees
of trustworthiness, is not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is
identified as unavailable as defined in subsection (c) and if the court
determines that:
(1) the statement is offered as evidence of a |
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(2) the statement is more probative on the point for
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| which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and
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(3) the general purposes of this Section and the
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| interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence.
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(b) A statement may not be admitted under this exception unless the
proponent of
it
makes
known to the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to
provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to meet it, the
proponent's intention to offer the statement, and the particulars of the
statement,
including the name and address of the declarant.
(c) Unavailability as a witness includes circumstances in which the
declarant:
(1) is exempted by ruling of the court on the ground
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| of privilege from testifying concerning the subject matter of the declarant's statement; or
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(2) persists in refusing to testify concerning the
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| subject matter of the declarant's statement despite an order of the court to do so; or
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(3) testifies to a lack of memory of the subject
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| matter of the declarant's statement; or
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(4) is unable to be present or to testify at the
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| hearing because of health or then existing physical or mental illness or infirmity; or
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(5) is absent from the hearing and the proponent of
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| the statement has been unable to procure the declarant's attendance by process or other reasonable means; or
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(6) is a crime victim as defined in Section 3 of the
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| Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act and the failure of the declarant to testify is caused by the defendant's intimidation of the declarant as defined in Section 12-6 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
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(d) A declarant is not unavailable as a witness if exemption, refusal, claim
of lack of memory, inability, or absence is due to the procurement or
wrongdoing of the proponent of a statement for purpose of preventing
the witness from attending or testifying.
(e) Nothing in this Section shall render a prior statement inadmissible for
purposes of impeachment because the statement was not recorded or
otherwise fails to meet the criteria set forth in this Section.
(Source: P.A. 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13.)
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