What is the test for determining trustworthiness in a witness statement?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Smith, 10 Cal.App.5th 297, 215 Cal.Rptr.3d 904 (Cal. App. 2017):
(People v. Tran (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1207, 1217, 155 Cal.Rptr.3d 803.) " In determining whether a statement ... is sufficiently trustworthy to be admissible, the court may take into account not just the words but the circumstances under which they were uttered, the possible motivation of the declarant, and the declarant's relationship to the defendant. [Citation.] [E]ven when a hearsay statement runs generally against the declarant's penal interest ..., the statement may, in light of circumstances, lack sufficient indicia of trustworthiness to qualify for admission. ... [] ... We have
[215 Cal.Rptr.3d 910]
recognized that, in this context, assessing trustworthiness " requires the court to apply to the peculiar facts of the individual case a broad and deep acquaintance with the ways human beings actually conduct themselves in the circumstances material under the exception. " ' " (People v. Geier , supra , 41 Cal.4th at p. 584, 61 Cal.Rptr.3d 580, 161 P.3d 104.)
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