Friend corroborates Masseuse’s Tale

All the major conservative sites are covering the National Enquirer story: Lucianne, Hot Air, even Powerline, which links to the Corner, which has this quote from the Enquirer article from Greg Boatman, a friend of the massage therapist, Molly Hagerty:

“She called me on the phone on Oct. 23, 2006. I remember the date because that’s my birthday. She was excited about the massage she had scheduled for that evening—she said it was with former Vice President Al Gore.

“I was shocked when she called back and woke me around 4 a.m. that same night. When I picked up, she was in tears. She told me she was assaulted … Mr. Gore groped her and threw her down on the bed.

“I was shocked and believed her right away. Molly’s never lied to me—she’s one of the most honest people I’ve ever met.”

NRO’s Daniel Foster then points out that while testimony such as Boatman’s is hearsay, in sexual assault cases it can be accepted as evidence rebutting the inference that the accuser made up the charge well after the alleged event.

- end of initial entry -

July 1

Sophia A. writes:

You’ve got the definition of hearsay wrong.

If someone tells you she was raped, that’s not hearsay.

If she says she heard someone raped someone else, that’s hearsay.

See Wikipedia.

LA replies:

First, it wasn’t my definition, but the writer at the Corner and the lawyer he quoted.

Second, my understanding is, if Y says on the witness stand, “X told me she was raped,” that is hearsay and is not allowable. Wikipedia backs me on this. But there are exceptions, as explained by both Wikipedia and the attorney quoted at the Corner. Thus, as in this instance, Y’s statement may be admissible as evidence that X told Y that she was raped, but not as evidence that the rape occurred.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 01, 2010 12:48 AM | Send