California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Lopez, E063703 (Cal. App. 2016):
The hearsay rule makes inadmissible evidence of a statement made other than by a witness while testifying at the hearing if it is offered to prove the truth of the matter stated. (Evid. Code, 1200.) Evidence of a statement by a 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, so subjected the declarant to the risk of criminal liability that a reasonable person in the same position would not have made the statement without believing it to be true. (Evid. Code, 1230.) "[O]nly those portions of [a declarant's] statements that [are] 'specifically disserving' [citation] to [her] penal interests [are] admissible under [Evidence Code] section 1230." (People v. Duarte (2000) 24 Cal.4th 603, 612.)
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