California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Ryan, C083006 (Cal. App. 2018):
declarant having sufficient knowledge of the subject is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness and the statement, when made, was so far contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far subjected him to the risk of civil or criminal liability, or so far tended to render invalid a claim by him against another, or created such a risk of making him an object of hatred, ridicule, or social disgrace in the community, that a reasonable man in his position would not have made the statement unless he believed it to be true." The proponent of the evidence must show that (1) the declarant is unavailable, (2) the statement was against the declarant's penal interest when made, and (3) the statement was sufficiently reliable to warrant admission despite its hearsay character. (People v. Grimes (2016) 1 Cal.5th 698, 711 (Grimes).) The trial court may consider the words spoken, the circumstances under which they were spoken, the possible motivation of the declarant, and the declarant's relationship to the defendant in determining whether the statement is truly against the declarant's interest and, thus, sufficiently trustworthy to be admissible under section 1230. (Grimes, supra, at pp. 711, 714-716.)
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