If a Wisconsin defendant on trial for two sexual assaults cannot cross-examine the out-of-state lab analyst who prepared his underlying DNA profiles, have his constitutional rights under the Confrontation Clause been violated?
A federal appeals court decided Wednesday that a confidential informant could wear a wig and fake mustache when he testified against an alleged member of a Mexican drug cartel.
12-1672 Dietrich v. Smith
2010AP2012-CR State v. Pringle
2011AP2549-CR State v. Elim
11-2201 U.S. v. Garvey
2010AP2363-CR & 2010AP2364-CR State v. Deadwiller
The Confrontation Clause does not bar an expert from testifying at a criminal trial that a DNA profile produced by an outside laboratory matched the defendant’s state lab DNA profile, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a fractured opinion.
10-8505 Williams v. Illinois
2010AP3122-CR State v. Bohanan
2011AP38-CR, 2011AP39-CR State v. Jacobson
2011AP532-CR State v. Howland
11-74 Hardy v. Cross
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have already looked at the issue of DNA evidence in criminal cases, with several rulings restricting prosecutors’ ability to admit such data without calling the lab analysts who prepared the tests to testify.
Here’s an intriguing twist to the common Confrontation Clause scenarios that criminal defense attorneys grapple with every day.
Despite evidence that the police withheld exculpatory evidence and witnesses were not truthful at trial, a state prisoner convicted in 1994 of sexual assault and attempted homicide will not get a new trial.
2010AP2091-CR State v. Torres
Motor Vehicles
OWI; Confrontation Clause
Criminal Procedure
Confrontation Clause
I don’t know if Casey Anthony killed her daughter or not, but I am confident that primetime television drama helped her to walk.
Motor Vehicles OWI; Confrontation Clause The Confrontation Clause does not permit the prosecution to introduce a forensic laboratory report containing a testimonial certification, made in order to prove a fact at a criminal trial, through the in-court testimony of an analyst who did not sign the certification or personally perform or observe the performance of [...]
Criminal Procedure Out-of-court identifications; self-representation; Confrontation Clause Steven Johnson, pro se, appeals a judgment of conviction entered after a jury found him guilty of robbery by threat of force pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 943.32(1)(b) (2007-08). Johnson sets forth numerous grounds for his appeal, all of which are wholly without merit. For the reasons which [...]
The exception to the hearsay rule for dying declarations does not violate the Confrontation Clause.
Criminal Procedure Confrontation Clause; dying declarations Admission of dying declarations does not violate the right to confrontation. “As the court of appeals noted, ‘the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of the confrontation right does not apply “where an exception to the confrontation right was recognized at the time of the founding.”’ Beauchamp concedes that the dying declaration [...]
An April 1 opinion from the 7th Circuit creates a conundrum for state courts when criminal defense attorneys fail to follow the rules for submitting evidence the alleged victim in a sexual assault case has made false allegations before.
Criminal Procedure Confrontation Clause Tony Colunga appeals a judgment convicting him of one count of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He argues: (1) that the circuit court violated his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him when it limited his cross-examination of the victim and a social worker who interviewed the victim about [...]
Check out these interesting legal blogs. Blinka on the Confrontation Clause. O’Hear on post-sentence rehabilitation.
Criminal Procedure Confrontation Clause Anthony Smith appeals from the judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of armed robbery with threat of force as a party to the crime, contrary to Wis. Stat. §§ 943.32(2) (2009-10) and 939.05, and the order denying his motion for postconviction relief. Not recommended for publication in the [...]
Criminal Procedure Confrontation clause A shooting victim’s identification and description of the shooter and the location of the shooting were not testimonial statements because they had a primary purpose of enabling police assistance to meet an on-going emergency. Here, the circumstances of the encounter as well as the statements and actions of Covington and the [...]
Habeas Corpus Confrontation Clause Where the state failed to subpoena the complainant in a sexual assault trial, instead reading her testimony from the first trial into the record, the defendant’s right to confront the witness was violated. “We do not lightly reach our conclusion that the state court unreasonably applied federal law, but under the [...]
