Similar to its federal counterpart, Minnesota Rule of Evidence 803(6) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for
A memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge, if kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness.
After he was convicted, the appellant appealed, claiming, inter alia, that the State failed to lay a proper foundation for admission of the transaction journal as a business record under Minnesota Rule of Evidence 803(6).
The Court of Appeals of Minnesota agreed, finding that
The district court erred by admitting the transaction journal into evidence without requiring the state’s witness to lay the foundational requirements of Minn. R. Evid. 803(6). Although a gas-station employee presumably recorded the transactions in the journal, the state offered the transaction journal into evidence through the investigating deputy.
h/t Prof. Colin Miller