United States v. Gonzales-Benitez
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
537 F.2d 1051 (9th Cir. 1976)
Aida Gonzales-Benitez and Ambrosio Hernandez-Coronel (defendants) were charged with distributing heroin after law enforcement recorded incriminating conversations with them. At trial, the officers who conducted the recorded conversations testified about what the defendants said, but the prosecution never introduced the tapes themselves. The defendants objected, arguing the tapes were the best evidence of the conversations and had to be admitted instead of testimony about them. The trial court overruled the objection, and the defendants were convicted and appealed.
Whether the best evidence rule applies when a party is not seeking to prove the actual contents of a document or recording.