Opinion ID: 2632408
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Lapse in Taped Recording of Defendant's Statement

Text: Both interrogations of defendant were tape-recorded by the interrogating officers. However, one half-hour segment of the first interrogation was either not recorded or taped over. Defendant now contends that the lapse in the recording occurred during a critical period in the interrogation. He argues that immediately before the unrecorded portion of the interrogation, defendant had not seriously incriminated himself, and that it was only after the unrecorded portion that he made self-incriminating statements. Defendant argues that, without a recording of this critical period, the People cannot meet their burden of proving that the statement was voluntary. Defendant did not argue at trial that the court should exclude his statements because of the lapse in the audio recording. However, the trial court reviewed the tapes independently while considering defendant's pretrial motion to exclude the statements and noticed the lapse. At the beginning of the pretrial hearing on the motion, the trial court pointed out to counsel that one side of one tape was blank. Although defense counsel had also noticed the blank portion of the recording, he seems not to have considered it problematic. He explained, There is a blank one and-on one side `cause it puzzled me the first time I listened to it, but it seemed that the chronology continued on on the next tape. There was no discussion during the hearing of whether the lapse should have affected the trial court's decision as to whether defendant's statement was voluntary. Defendant has forfeited this claim by failing to object in the trial court to the incomplete recording of defendant's interviews. ( People v. Saunders (1993) 5 Cal.4th 580, 589-590, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 853 P.2d 1093.) Because the trial court had no opportunity to address any possible factual disputes about what occurred during the lapse in recording, we will not address this claim for the first time on appeal. ( People v. Ray, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 339, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 296, 914 P.2d 846 [where defendant sought suppression of his confession at trial only on the ground that there was a delay in advising him of his Miranda rights, his claim that the confession was involuntary because it was given in exchange for a promised benefit was forfeited on appeal].) Defendant also alleges that the police did something to make defendant change his story during the unrecorded portion of the tape. However, defendant acknowledges that his argument relies upon matters outside of the record in this case, which may not be considered on appeal. The mere fact that there was a lapse in the recording of the first interrogation in no way establishes that defendant's subsequent statements were involuntary or coerced.