Can statements used in one's defence in one trial be used as evidence against the defendent in another trial?

Question

John broke into Mary's car and James robbed ABC Bank at the same time. John and James are both suspects in the ABC Bank case, but nobody has any idea who broke into Mary's car. If John says at his trial, "I didn't rob ABC Bank at 11:00 AM; I was breaking into Mary's car at that time," is that statement admissible as evidence that he did break into Mary's car? Is it evidence that he did not rob ABC Bank?

Answer 1

Can statements used in one's defence in one trial be used as evidence against the defendent in another trial?

Generally speaking, yes, assuming that the use of the evidence in another trial is not inadmissible on some other ground.

It is possible, however, that evidence which is relevant and falls within, for example, a hearsay exception, in one trial, might not be relevant, or might not fall within a hearsay exception, in another trial.