Can an out-of-court statement by a nontestifying accomplice be used as evidence in a criminal case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Hernandez-Delgado, H044577 (Cal. App. 2019):

Out-of-court statements by a nontestifying accomplice require corroboration only if " ' "made under questioning by police or under other suspect circumstances." ' " (People v. Rangel (2016) 62 Cal.4th 1192, 1229.) However, " '[t]he usual problem with accomplice testimonythat it is consciously self-interested and calculatedis not present in an out-of-court statement that is itself sufficiently reliable to be allowed in

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evidence.' [Citations.]" (People v. Brown (2003) 31 Cal.4th 518, 555-556 (Brown).) Where an accomplice's out-of-court statements "were themselves made under conditions sufficiently trustworthy to permit their admission into evidence despite the hearsay rule[,] . . . no corroboration [is] necessary, and the court [is] not required to instruct the jury to view [an accomplice's] statements with caution and to require corroboration." (Id. at p. 556.)

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