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Forfeiting confrontation rights through wrongdoing.

By Marks & Katz, LLC

 Bill of Rights (From public domain.) Last June, the United States Supreme Court determined that Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) strictly limits prosecutors' ability to present to the jury a homicide victim's testimonial hearsay, even though the victim could have testified at trial had his or her killing not been procured. Giles v. California, __ U.S. _, 128 S. Ct. 2678 (June 25, 2008).  Two weeks ago, the D.C. Court of Appeals underlined that, under Giles , a criminal defendant only forfeits his or her Sixth Amendment confrontation rights if the defendant procured the witness's unavailability for the purpose of preventing the witness from testifying. Roberson v. U.S., __ A.2d _ (D.C. Dec. 18, 2008). In Roberson, although the D.C...continue to full post

Full post as published by Underdog on December 30, 2008 (boomark / email).