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teacher's notes admissable?

Started by too_short, Sep 25, 2004, 07:28:38 AM

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too_short

FACTS:  

State court is in PA.  Mother lives in PA with son.  I live in DE.   I have joint legal and shared custody of son.

My son's 1st grade teacher had him keep a journal where she would write notes on his classroom behavior for his mother to see.   Each entry in journal is followed by Mother's and teacher's signature.   I have photocopies of this journal.
     

QUESTIONS:
   
1)  Will there be any problems in getting this admissable in court?

socrateaser

>1)  Will there be any problems in getting this admissable in
>court?

Evidence is admissible if it is (1) relevant to the issue before the court, (2) competent, (3) presented in proper form, and (4) not subject to an exclusionary rule.

You have a journal, that you wish to get admitted. The threshold issue, is whether it's relevant. What do you hope to prove with this journal -- your facts don't say, therefore I can't determine relevancy.

too_short

I want to show son has had problems in school in kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.  Mother is claiming son only started having problems in 2nd grade as a result of my increased custodial time.

socrateaser

>I want to show son has had problems in school in
>kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.  Mother is claiming
>son only started having problems in 2nd grade as a result of
>my increased custodial time.

ok, if the issue is custody, then the journal may be relevant to impeach the other parent's testimony that your exercise of custody has negatively influenced the child. on, the other hand, if the child's performance has not improved, then it could be argued that your influence is neither positive nor negative, which won't help you increase your custodial time.

the journal contains out of court statements made by someone other than you, and you appear to want to offer these statements for their truth. Thus the statements are hearsay, and unless the persons who made them are available to be cross examined at trial, then the statements can be ruled inadmissible. You could argue that the statements are more probative than prejudicial, but more than likely, this sort of evidence will not be admitted unless you subpoena the teacher to explain them.