6th Amendment Violation – Confrontation Clause

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Olu A. Rhodes v. Michael A. Dittmann

Case No.: 17-2223

Officials: SYKES and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges and LEE, District Judge.

Focus: 6^th Amendment Violation – Confrontation Clause

Petitioner‐appellant Olu Rhodes seeks a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him was violated. Rhodes was convicted of first‐degree intentional homicide and first‐degree recklessly endangering safety for shooting two victims and killing one: Robert Davis. The State’s theory at trial was that Rhodes and his brother shot Davis, who was an ex‐boyfriend of their sister, Nari Rhodes (and that the surviving shooting victim was at the wrong place at the wrong time).

Nari had suffered a severe beating the day before Davis was murdered. She was the only connection between Rhodes and the victims. The State called her as a witness. Her direct testimony focused heavily on her injuries from the beating the day before. But when Rhodes tried to cross‐examine Nari to rebut the State’s motive theory, the judge limited the questioning on this central issue. In essence, the trial court shut down the defense’s cross‐examination to rebut the prosecution’s central theory. Rhodes argues that this violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment.

In the end, we cannot say that the Confrontation Clause violation had no “substantial and injurious effect” on the jury’s deliberations. The State presented other evidence against Rhodes, but none of the evidence was without its problems. Motive was central to the case, and Nari’s testimony was central to Rhodes’s attempt to rebut the State’s theory. Without Rhodes’s rebuttal evidence, the jury was left without key facts relevant to Nari’s credibility and Rhodes’s guilt or innocence.

The judgment of the district court is therefore REVERSED and this case is REMANDED to the district court with instructions to grant the writ of habeas corpus ordering that Rhodes be released or retried promptly.

Reversed and Remanded

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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.