People v. Ruiz

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder. Court erred by allowing into evidence, as tacit admissions, portions of a police station video recording that included certain statements made by Defendant's co-arrestee about Defendant and "you guys" taking things "too far" and Defendant's failure to deny those statements. State's closing argument did not exacerbate the error. There is no reasonable probability that jury would have acquitted Defendant if co-arrestee's statements had been excluded. Thus, error in admitting those statements was harmless. (DELORT and CUNNINGHAM, concurring.)