Child Hearsay

Statements made by a child are hearsay unless the child is willing to get on the stand in court and testify to them.  This was illustrated today in Darnell v. Darnell located here.  The case dealt with a number of hearsay statements regarding alleged sexual abuse.  The Mississippi Supreme Court ultimately ruled that two of the statements were not hearsay and two were.  The case also has an interesting discussion of what an expert can rely on in stating their opinion.   The legal analysis in here is worth filing away for future reference.