Confrontation

Question 1

What is the right to confrontation?

Answer 1

The “right to confrontation” is a VI amend. guarantee that ensures a criminally charged defendant has the right to face and cross-examine (eg, prototypical impeachment via esp bias) witnesses who provide evidence against them at trial.

Question 2

crawford rule

Answer 2

a further constriction on the right to confrontation. hearsay is strictly constrained: “testimonial statements” made out of court cannot be admitted as evidence unless: (1) The witness is unavailable, and (2) The defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness.

Question 3

“testimonial statements”

Answer 3

not exactly defined, but they are out of court statements prepared primarily for the purpose of use at trial: eg, affidavits, stmt during police interrogations, & those generally made for the purpose of being used at trial.

Question 4

Smith v. Arizona

Answer 4

reasserted that when an expert relies on testimonial hearsay as the basis for their opinion, those statements are introduced for their truth, triggering the Confrontation Clause and requiring that the defendant have an opportunity to cross-examine the original declarant.

Here, the W a lab tech relied on statements of an unavailable lab tech who disappeared. No no.