California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Frisch, B244985 (Cal. App. 2014):
Appellant sought to authenticate the form under Evidence Code section 1413, by testifying that he wrote it. The trial court erred by failing to allow appellant to do so. "Although writings must be authenticated before they are received into evidence or before secondary evidence of their contents may be received [citation], a document is authenticated when sufficient evidence has been produced to sustain a finding that the document is what it purports to be [citation]. As long as the evidence would support a finding of authenticity, the writing is admissible. The fact conflicting inferences can be drawn regarding authenticity goes to the document's weight as evidence, not its admissibility. [Citations.]" (Jazayeri v. Mao (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 301, 321.) It was the role of the trier of fact, in this case the jury, to determine if it was in fact a form that appellant created when he obtained the car from Sanchez, or if appellant created it to disguise his culpability. (Ibid.)
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