can a person be convicted on hear say? and witnesses have a bad record?

Answer 1

There are certain circumstances where hearsay is admissible in court. The nature of the witness won't exclude them from testifying, but a good attorney will be able to make them look bad during cross examination.

Answer 2

Hearsay is a rule of law governing admission of verbal statements. It only determines if the hearsay testimony is allowed, it does not make the acutal testimony illegal.

There are times when hearsay is admissable, for instance, a dying declaration, or excited utterance.

A dying declaration, which is a statement made on a persons deathbed, can be admissable because the courts feel a dying person has no reason to lie. An example of this would be a dying person giving the name of his killer.

An excited utterance is something said when the person is in a high emotional state. Again, the courts recoginze it is unlikely someone would like in this situation. An example of this would be a wife running out of the house sceaming "he's trying to kill me". If she refuses to testify against her husband later, the statement could still be allowed.

The general rule is it is not admissible, unless one of the exceptions apply, but if you can argue for it to be admitted, it can be used to convict.

Answer 3

Yes, someone can be convicted on hearsay. Like the other posters stated, hearsay is a term used in court. The biggest exception to the hearsay rule they didn't mention is the most important one. What the defendant has said to other people is admissible. It has to be something the witness himself heard the defendant say. It cannot be something someone else told him the defendant said. That is actually referred to as double hearsay.

Answer 4

It happens everyday.