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Tenth Addresses "Testimonial" Statements, Affirms Meth Conviction

By Shari Allison

U.S. v. Lopez-Medina, 2010 WL 569944 (2/19/10) (Published) - Some lessons about the consequences of defense tactics with good, though not startling, news concerning what statements are testimonial. The 10th holds that a confidential informant's ("CI") statements to law enforcement officers are "clearly testimonial" under the Supreme Court's decision in Crawford. But defense counsel waived the defendant's Confrontation Clause rights regarding the CI's statements when counsel questioned an officer about what the CI said to him and then explained: "If I open up a door, please feel free to drive into it." Such a waiver is valid as long as the defendant did not personally dissent from counsel's decision [not likely] and the decision was a legitimate trial tactic, [it was hard to tell what the tactic was here, but the 10th declared it was legitimate]...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on February 25, 2010 (boomark / email).