California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from State v. Miller, 81 Cal.App.4th 1427, 97 Cal.Rptr.2d 684 (Cal. App. 2000):
"There is no litmus test for the determination of whether a statement is trustworthy and falls within the declaration against interest exception. The trial court must look to the totality of the circumstances in which the statement was made, whether the declarant spoke from personal knowledge, the possible motivation of the declarant, what was actually said by the declarant, and anything else relevant to the inquiry. [Citations.] "Clearly the least reliable circumstance is one in which the declarant has been arrested and attempts to improve his situation with the police by deflecting criminal responsibility onto others. . . . However, the most reliable circumstance is one in which the conversation occurs between friends in a noncoercive setting that fosters uninhibited disclosures. [Citations.] [] . . . [] In determining the particularized guarantees of trustworthiness, consideration of corroborating evidence is inappropriate since that would constitute 'bootstrapping on the trustworthiness of other evidence at trial.' [Citation.]" (People v. Greenberger, supra, 58 Cal.App.4th at pp. 334-336.)
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