A Defendant Who Was in Incarcerated at a Local Jail

Multiple Choice

A defendant who was in incarcerated at a local jail because he had been arrested on a robbery charge wrote letters to his mother and to his girlfriend that were photocopied by jail security personnel. The letters clearly indicated an intimate knowledge of the charged crime and offered suggestions on how the defendant's girlfriend and mother should construct their testimony in order to help the defendant avoid a conviction. The return address listed the name of the defendant and his inmate number. The letters contained pet names for the girlfriend and clearly indicated that he knew how his mother's house was designed. If the defendant objects that the letters to his girlfriend and mother cannot be authenticated through the above data,

A) the judge should rule that the letters have been properly authenticated because jail personnel saw them, they came from the defendant and had his prison number on them, and information known primarily by the defendant was contained within the letters.
B) the recipients of the letters would have to come to court and testify that they received the letters from the defendant in order to authenticate them.
C) the letters cannot be authenticated because the defendant cannot be forced to take the witness stand, and only he would know who actually wrote the letters.
D) the only way to authenticate the letters would be to have a handwriting expert compare known samples of the defendant's writing with the writing that was contained within the questioned letters.