Subject to Section 1252, evidence of a statement of the declarant‘s state of mind, emotion, or physical sensation (including a statement of intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, or bodily health) at a time prior to the statement is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule if:

(a) The declarant is unavailable as a witness; and

Terms Used In California Evidence Code 1251

  • Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
  • Declarant: is a person who makes a statement. See California Evidence Code 135
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Evidence: means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact. See California Evidence Code 140
  • Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Evidence Code 220
  • Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
  • unavailable as a witness: means that the declarant is any of the following:

    California Evidence Code 240

(b) The evidence is offered to prove such prior state of mind, emotion, or physical sensation when it is itself an issue in the action and the evidence is not offered to prove any fact other than such state of mind, emotion, or physical sensation.

(Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.)

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