A. Testimony that is given by a witness who relates not what he or she knows personally, but relates what others have said.
Listen to pronunciationLegal Definition -
Testimony that is given by a witness who relates not what he or she knows personally, but relates what others have said, and thereby is dependent on the credibility of a person other than the witness. Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
Recent Usage -
"The outcomes of thousands of criminal cases hang in the balance while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to clarify when out-of-court accusations may be used in lieu of in-court testimony without violating defendants' Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses. Both the National District Attorneys Association's point man on the confrontation clause and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers agree that the time is ripe for the court to satisfy its promise to fill in the blanks it intentionally left when it decided Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). Before Crawford, any hearsay could come in -- even when a witness did not testify -- if the hearsay exception was firmly rooted and traditional, and if a judge found the statement to be reliable and trustworthy in the circumstances in which it was made. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56 (1989). Crawford bars testimonial hearsay introduced by the prosecution unless the defense has an opportunity to question the person who made the statement, and that person is unavailable at the time of trial. With some exceptions, the court explicitly decided that it would 'leave for another day' a more specific definition of 'testimonial.'" Leonard Post, The National Law Journal October 27, 2005