Criminal Procedure - Admission of Out-of-Court Statements - Assault in the Second Degree

Summary

The bill creates an exception to Maryland’s hearsay rule for cases where a defendant is charged with second‑degree assault and has caused a witness to be unavailable. Such out‑of‑court statements can be admitted if they were made under oath, written and signed, or recorded verbatim, and the court finds the defendant responsible for the witness’s unavailability. It aims to prevent defendants from silencing witnesses to evade prosecution.

AI-generated summary — may be incomplete or inaccurate. Verify against the official bill text.

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