Intro to the Federal Rules of Evidence - 72

6. Forfeiture by Wrongdoing (FRE 804(b)(6))
a. Purpose
To remove the incentive of witness-tampering: D’s attempt to intimidate, bribe, or even murder the witness.

b. No reliability requirement
This exception does not require that the out-of-court declaration be reliable in order to be admitted. This makes the exception much easier to use than the residual exception of FRE 807 which requires circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness.

c. Common scenarios
The out-of-court statements to which FRE 804(b)(6) is often applied include: (1) statements made by W while under police interrogation; (2) statements made by W in a grand jury proceedings or preliminary hearing; (3) statements made by W in W’s own criminal trial, or in a criminal trial of some third person.