How is 'Hearsay' defined under Rule 801(c)?

• A. It was made during trial and is offered to prove the truth.
• B. The declarant does not make the statement while testifying, and the statement is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
• C. It is any statement that is not sworn.
• D. It is a statement made by a party in a civil case.

Answer: (B)

Hearsay is defined as an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of what it asserts. The key is that the statement was made outside the current trial or hearing and is being used to prove its content is true.

So the best fit is the situation where the declarant did not make the statement while testifying, and the statement is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. That matches the essence of hearsay: an external statement used to prove its own truth.

Why the other descriptions don’t fit: a statement made during trial by someone who is testifying is not hearsay because it’s part of in-court testimony, not an out-of-court statement offered to prove truth. A statement being unsworn is irrelevant to whether it is hearsay, since hearsay depends on whether the statement is out of court and offered for truth, not on whether it’s sworn. And a statement by a party in a civil case isn’t what defines hearsay either; hearsay covers statements by any declarant, in civil or criminal cases, as long as they’re out of court and offered for their truth.