Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Cal. Evid. Code § 791

Attacking or Supporting Credibility

Applied in 51 court decisions — leading case 52 Cal. 3d 577 - People v. Hayes (1990)

Most recently applied in 9 Cal. 5th 147 - People v. Fayed (April 2020)

Enacted by Stats. 1965, Ch. 299.

How often courts cite this section

19681980199020002010202040
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Evidence of a statement previously made by a witness that is consistent with his testimony at the hearing is inadmissible to support his credibility unless it is offered after:

(a) Evidence of a statement made by him that is inconsistent with any part of his testimony at the hearing has been admitted for the purpose of attacking his credibility, and the statement was made before the alleged inconsistent statement; or

(b) An express or implied charge has been made that his testimony at the hearing is recently fabricated or is influenced by bias or other improper motive, and the statement was made before the bias, motive for fabrication, or other improper motive is alleged to have arisen.

Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.