Legal Definitions - extrajudicial statement

An extrajudicial statement refers to any declaration, assertion, or utterance made outside of a formal court proceeding. This means it is a statement not made under oath during a trial, deposition, or other official judicial hearing. While such statements can be highly relevant to a case, their admissibility as evidence in court is often subject to specific rules of evidence, such as those concerning hearsay, because they were not made in a judicial setting.

• Example 1: Witness Interview
  Imagine a detective investigating a robbery. A witness tells the detective during an interview at their home, "I saw a person matching the suspect's description running away from the bank." This is an extrajudicial statement because it was made to a police officer outside of a courtroom, not under oath or during a formal legal proceeding.

• Example 2: Private Conversation
  Consider two neighbors discussing a property line dispute over their fence. One neighbor says to the other, "I always understood that tree marked the boundary, even though the survey says otherwise." This comment, made during a casual conversation away from any legal setting, is an extrajudicial statement. If the dispute later goes to court, this statement might be brought up, but its admissibility would be scrutinized because it was not made in court.

• Example 3: Written Communication
  A person involved in a car accident sends a text message to a friend immediately afterward, stating, "I totally missed that stop sign, my bad!" This text message is an extrajudicial statement. It is a written declaration made outside of any court-mandated process. Should a lawsuit arise from the accident, this text could be considered, but its use in court would depend on rules governing out-of-court statements.