Justices: Substitute analysts cannot introduce lab tests 
Published: June 23, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, evidence, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, Supreme Court
The Confrontation Clause does not permit laboratory test reports to be introduced through the in-court testimony of an analyst who did not personally perform or observe the performance of the test, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
CONFRONTATION CLAUSE
Published: June 23, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, evidence, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, Supreme Court
The Confrontation Clause does not permit laboratory test reports to be introduced through the in-court testimony of an analyst who did not personally perform or observe the performance of the test.
See “Justices: Substitute analysts cannot introduce lab tests”
U.S. Supreme Court. Bullcoming v. New Mexico, No.
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Officers’ testimony violated defendant’s confrontation rights
Published: June 15, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause
Allowing two officers to summarize at trial the statements made by a witness to a murder when the witness was unavailable for trial violated the defendant’s constitutional right to confrontation, the 9th Circuit has ruled.
Admission of breath test records constitutional
Published: May 27, 2011
Tags: breath test, Confrontation Clause, drunk driving, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts
A drunk driving defendant’s constitutional rights were not violated by the admission of breath test certification records without the testimony of the state technician who prepared them, Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled in affirming a conviction.
Proof of prior felony violated Confrontation Clause
Published: April 20, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts
Prosecutors violated a drug defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights when they attempted to prove his prior felony conviction through letters from a state court clerk, the D.C. Circuit has ruled in vacating a firearm conviction.
High Court confronts case of substitute lab analyst
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: March 2, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, evidence, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lab reports used as evidence in criminal trials are testimonial evidence, and therefore the Confrontation Clause requires that the technicians who prepared them be made available to testify, the justices are still wrangling with the parameters of that rule.
CONFRONTATION CLAUSE
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 1, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Crawford v. Washington, ongoing emergency, Supreme Court
A murder defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights were not violated by the admission at trial of incriminating statements made by a shooting victim before his death.
See “Murder victim’s statements admissible”
U.S. Supreme Court. Michigan v. Bryant, No. 09-150. Feb. 28, 2011.
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Murder victim’s statements admissible
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 28, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Crawford v. Washington, ongoing emergency, Supreme Court
A murder defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights were not violated by the admission at trial of incriminating statements made by a shooting victim before his death, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-2 decision.
Defendant in seminal Confrontation Clause case acquitted
By:
David Frank
Published: February 18, 2011
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Melendez-Diaz, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, Sixth Amendment, Supreme Court
Luis Melendez-Diaz made national headlines in 2009 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause required prosecutors to put a drug analyst on the stand before introducing a lab certificate into evidence.
Admission of drug ledgers violates ‘Crawford’
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: November 11, 2010
Tags: Confrontation Clause, conspiracy, Crawford, Crawford v. Washington, testimonial evidence
A drug defendant’s constitutional rights were violated when prosecutors introduced a co-conspirator’s notebooks at trial without proper authentication, the 5th Circuit has ruled in reversing a conviction.
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