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any tips on how to synthesize the rules? ways to help conceptualize problems?

Topic is a bit vague, but I think for hearsay it's always helpful to ask something along the lines of "are we concerned with the reliability of this statement?"/"are we concerned that the person is lying?" If not, it's almost always not hearsay/admissible hearsay.

Think of everything from the standpoint of an objection.

Fact pattern: "In a rape case, the cop relayed what Jake said at the scene, which is that Jake doesn't think Mel was the killer cause Mel told him that he only had felony convictions for robbery without a deadly weapon."

Issue: Objection to relevance, hearsay, hearsay within hearsay, improper character evidence, and lack of foundation for a lay witness opinion. Might as well throw in a 403 unfair prejudice for effect.

Explanation and Application: K, great. Now explain the rules for all of them, and then do an application of the arguments back and forth for each different objection.