Aranda Bruton Motion

When a criminal defense attorney or public defender files an Aranda-Bruton Motion, he is seeking to keep a co-defendant's damaging statement about his client from being exposed to the jury. If the motion is successful, the Prosecutor must promise not to use the statement, or all references to the defendant must be deleted.

If it is not possible to remove all references to the defendant, then the statement cannot be used. This particular motion is referred to as an Aranda-Bruton Motion because it evolved from two cases: People v. Aranda (1965) 63 cal.2d 518 and Bruton v. United States (1968) 391 U.S. 123.