Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: tape recorded conversation

Depends. If made at jail, probably. If a taped phone call outside, maybe not. You'll get the actual answer from the judge after a suppression motion. If you're in SoCal courts, and you're serious about hiring legal counsel to help you, feel free to contact me.

Re: tape recorded conversation

Yes, it could be admissible. As to whether or not it "clears" one is another story.

For example, let's say the DA has only one defendant. Let's also say the defendant gave a statement to police, but the denied everything. Is that what you mean by "clears" a person? The DA may have tactical reasons for wanting to introduce the defendant's statement, even though they deny everything to argue that they're a liar, since there's so much other evidence.

In the case of two co-defendants, same thing. The DA may want to put on the statement, even if one defendant denies it and the other defendant says, "yeah - you had nothing to do with it, it's all me." There may be enough evidence to prove a case against the defendant who said they had nothing to do with it.

It really depends on the facts of the case as to why it may be introduced, but your question is: Can it be introduced? The answer is yes.