At The Lectern by Horvitz & Levy

Opinion filing tomorrow regarding validity of statute barring evidence from unconsented-to recordings

Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinion in People v. Guzman.  (Briefs here; oral argument video here.)  It will be the first opinion in an October calendar case.

After tomorrow, there will be five undecided October cases, and December 30 will be the last of seven regular filing days left within the 90-day period for issuing opinions in those matters.

Guzman concerns whether the “Right to Truth-in-Evidence” provision of the California Constitution (art. I, § 28, subd. (f)(2)) abrogates Penal Code section 632, subdivision (d), which otherwise mandates the exclusion of recorded confidential communications from evidence in criminal proceedings.  The court granted review in July 2017, but briefing was not completed until a year later.

The opinion can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.