Court Error – Confrontation Clause Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Christopher Richardson v. Kathy Griffin, Superintendent Miami Correctional Facility

Case No.: 16-1700

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error – Confrontation Clause Violation

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives a criminal defendant the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him”; that right applies to both federal and state prosecutions. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 42 (2004) (citing Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 406 (1965)). In this case, Christopher Richardson contends that Indiana’s courts violated his Confrontation Clause rights when they permitted the use at his trial of testimonial, out-of-court statements of witnesses who fingered him as the shooter. We appreciate how narrow the path to collateral relief is for state prisoners. We nonetheless conclude that Richardson has shown that Indiana’s courts unreasonably applied the Supreme Court’s Confrontation Clause cases. We therefore reverse the decision of the district court denying relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

This leaves us with the “grave doubt about whether a trial error of federal law had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict” to which Ayala referred. Because the Confrontation Clause error affected only the trial, Richardson is not entitled to an unconditional writ of habeas corpus. Instead, we REVERSE the district court’s decision and ORDER that unless the state initiates proceedings to retry Richardson within 120 days, he is entitled to issuance of the writ.

Reversed and Ordered

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.