Semyya Lanise Cunningham v. United States

Rule 807 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, the residual hearsay exception, provides that a hearsay statement that is not admissible under one of the other exceptions is not excluded by the rule against hearsay if, among other things, “the statement has equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness.” The question presented is: Whether a finding of “circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness” may be premised on a district court’s belief in the truth of the hearsay statement, and its assessment of the credibility of the hearsay witnesses, rather than the circumstances surrounding the making of the statement. (i)