People v. Berkey

This is a murder case in which the trial court admitted into evidence some audiotapes that the victim recorded several months before her death. The tapes contain conversations with the defendant in this case, who was the victim’s spouse.

The Court of Appeals reversed the defendant’s convictions on the ground that the prosecutor had failed to offer sufficient evidence to authenticate the tapes. However, the Court of Appeals employed the incorrect standard for determining the authenticity of the tapes. Under Rule 901 of the Michigan Rules of Evidence, we are satisfied that the tapes were…