California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Singh, H042511 (Cal. App. 2018):
" 'The focus of the declaration against interest exception to the hearsay rule is the basic trustworthiness of the declaration. [Citations.] In determining whether a statement is truly against interest within the meaning of Evidence Code section 1230, and hence 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.]" (People v. Geier (2007) 41 Cal.4th 555, 584 (Geier).) Thus, " '[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.' "
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