For a statement against interest, the declarant must be what?

A statement against interest is a hearsay exception that allows a statement made by a declarant to be admissible in court if it is contrary to their own interests at the time it was made. The key requirement for this exception is that the declarant must be unavailable at the time the statement is introduced in court. This is to ensure that the person who made the statement is not able to testify and thus, their statement is more likely to be trustworthy; people generally do not make statements that are against their own interests unless they believe them to be true.

In this context, unavailability means that the declarant is not present to testify, which could be due to various reasons such as death, illness, or absence from the jurisdiction. The rationale behind this requirement is rooted in the notion of reliability—statements made against one's own interest carry a higher degree of credibility when the declarant is not available to provide an explanation or context for those statements.

Thus, the correct choice accurately identifies the need for the declarant to be unavailable, underscoring the importance of this condition in the context of a statement against interest and its admissibility in court.