URBANA — Champaign County prosecutors want to use statements Jaylon Tate's girlfriend made shortly after she was allegedly struck by the University of Illinois basketball player.
The state filed motions this week asking a judge to allow the hearsay statements that Hailey Pieruccini reportedly made separately to three friends early on March 12 under the "excited utterance" exception to the rule against hearsay testimony.
Hearsay evidence is generally inadmissible at trial because it involves what one person says another has told them rather than what the testifying witness has personally seen or heard.
Also known as a "spontaneous declaration," the utterance, generally made in the immediate aftermath of an event, is a recognized exception to the rule barring hearsay.