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KRE 902
SELF-AUTHENTICATION
Extrinsic evidence
of authenticity as a condition precedent to admissibility is not
required with respect to the following:
(1) Domestic public
documents under seal. A document bearing a seal purporting to be
that of the United States, or of any state, district, Commonwealth,
territory, or insular possession thereof, or the Panama Canal Zone,
or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or of a political
subdivision, department, officer, or agency thereof, and a signature
purporting to be an attestation or execution.
(2) Domestic public
documents not under seal. A document purporting to bear the
signature in the official capacity of an officer or employee of any
entity included in paragraph (1) of this rule, having no seal, if a
public officer having a seal and having official duties in the
district or political subdivision of the officer or employee
certifies under seal that the signer has the official capacity and
that the signature is genuine.
(3) Foreign public
documents. A
document purporting to be executed, or attested in an official
capacity by a person authorized by the laws of a foreign country to
make the execution or attestation, and accompanied by a final
certification as to the genuineness of the signature of official
position:
(A) Of the executing or attesting person; or
(B) Of any
foreign official whose certificate of genuineness of signature and
official position relates to the execution or attestation.
A final
certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation,
consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United
States, or a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country
assigned or accredited to the United States. If reasonable
opportunity has been given to all parties to investigate the
authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the court may, for
good cause shown, order that they be treated as presumptively
authentic without final certification or permit them to be evidenced
by an attested summary with or without final certification.
(4)
Official records. An official record or an entry therein, when
admissible for any purpose, may be evidenced by an official
publication thereof or by a copy attested by an official having the
legal custody of the record. If the office in which the record is
kept is outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the attested copy
shall be accompanied by a certificate that the official attesting to
the accuracy of the copy has the authority to do so. The certificate
accompanying domestic records (those from offices within the
territorial jurisdiction of the United States) may be made by a
judge of a court of record of the district or political subdivision
in which the record is kept, authenticated by the seal of the court,
or may be made by any public officer having a seal of office and
having official duties in the district or political subdivision in
which the record is kept, authenticated by the seal of office. The
certificate accompanying foreign records (those from offices outside
the territorial jurisdiction of the United States) may be made by a
secretary of embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice
consul, or consular agent or by any officer in the foreign service
of the United States stationed in the foreign state or country in
which the record is kept, and authenticated by the seal of office. A
written statement prepared by an official having the custody of a
record that after diligent search no record or entry of a specified
tenor is found to exist in the records of the office, complying with
the requirements set out above, is admissible as evidence that the
records of the office contain no such record of entry.
(5) Official
publications. Books, pamphlets, or other publications purporting to
be issued by public authority.
(6) Books, newspapers, and
periodicals. Printed materials purporting to be books, newspapers,
or periodicals.
(7) Trade inscriptions and the
like. Inscriptions,
signs, tags, or labels purporting to have been affixed in the course
of business and indicating ownership, control, or origin.
(8)
Acknowledged documents. Documents accompanied by a certificate of
acknowledgement executed in the manner provided by law before a
notary public or other officer authorized by law to take
acknowledgements.
(9) Commercial paper and related
documents.
Commercial paper, signatures thereon, and documents relating thereto
to the extent provided by the general commercial law.
(10) Documents
which self-authenticate by the provisions of statutes or other rules
of evidence. Any signature, document, or other matter which is
declared to be presumptively genuine by Act of Congress or the
General Assembly of Kentucky or by rule of the Supreme Court of
Kentucky.
(11) Business records.
(A) Unless the sources of
information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness,
the original or a duplicate of a record of regularly conducted
activity within the scope of KRE 803(6) or
KRE 803(7),
which the custodian thereof certifies:
(i) Was made, at or near the
time of the occurrence of the matters set forth, by (or from
information transmitted by) a person with knowledge of those
matters;
(ii) Is kept in the course of the regularly conducted
activity; and
(iii) Was made by the regularly conducted activity as
a regular practice.
(B) A record so certified is not
self-authenticating under this paragraph unless the proponent makes
an intention to offer it known to the adverse party and makes it
available for inspection sufficiently in advance of its offer in
evidence to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to
challenge it.
(C) As used in this paragraph, "certifies"
means, with respect to a domestic record, a written declaration
under oath subject to the penalty of perjury, and, with respect to a
foreign record, a written declaration which, if falsely made, would
subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of that
country. The certificate relating to a foreign record must be
accompanied by a final certification as to the genuineness of the
signature and official position:
(i) Of the
individual executing the certificate; or
(ii) Of any foreign
official who certifies the genuineness of signature and official
position of the executing individual or is the last in a chain of
certificates that collectively certify the genuineness of signature
and official position of the executing individual.
A final
certification must be made by a secretary of embassy or legation,
consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent or by an
officer in the foreign service of the United States stationed in the
foreign state or country in which the record is kept, and
authenticated by the seal of office.
[1992 c 324,
SEC 24, 34, eff. 7-1-92; 1990 c 88,
SEC 63]
Note: KRE 902
contains provisions which are similar to former KRS sections 422.020, 422.030, 422.050,
422.070, 422.080, 422.081, 422.100, and 422.105, repealed by 1992 c
324, SEC 33, eff. 7-1-92.
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