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Tag Archives: Confrontation Clause

High court clears up Confrontation Clause conflict

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that certain toxicology reports may be admitted at trial without testimony from or cross-examination of the authors of those reports without violating the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause.

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US Supreme Court fractures on expert testimony issue

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.

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Does Confrontation Clause bar expert DNA testimony?

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.

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Police misconduct not grounds for new trial

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.

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09-10876 Bullcoming v. New Mexico

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 the test reported in the ...

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2010AP987-CR State v. Johnson

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 follow, we affirm. Not recommended ...

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2009AP806-CR State v. Beauchamp

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 exception was an established hearsay ...

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Appellate puts trial courts in tough spot

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.

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2009AP3039-CR State v. Colunga

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 the assault; and (2) that ...

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