CALIFORNIA EVIDENCE: CIVIL AND CRIMINAL
...Hearsay Except. Requiring Unavail
......Exception: Decl. Against Interest
.........Types of Interests: Penal
............Against Interest at Time Stmt Made
8 Cards On This Topic:

No abuse of discretion in finding Mexican Mafia leader made statement against his penal interest when he discussed V, a former Mexican Mafia member, and indicated he needed a silencer.

Admission of extrajudicial statements of coparticipants, per Evid. Code §1230, did not deny D's rights under confrontation clause.

Statement must be against interest when made.

Statements by witness who asserts Fifth Amendment privilege and which are against his interest properly admitted against D.

Declaration against penal interest exception not applicable under grant of immunity.

Witness' assertion of Fifth Amendment does not automatically make witness unavailable so hearsay statements "against penal interest" admissible. Witness must realize statement is against penal interest when made.

Declaration against interest must be distinctly against interest; test not whether statement could provide link in chain of evidence leading to declarant's criminal liability.

Declarant must be aware statement is against penal interest when made.