Confrontation Rights

Question 1

What does the confrontation clause protect against?

Answer 1

Admissions of hearsay statements against CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS where the declarant is unavailable for cross examination.

Question 2

What sort of hearsay is inadmissible under Crawford, and thus the confrontation clause?

Answer 2

Testimonial Hearsay

Question 3

What is Testimonial Hearsay?

Answer 3

Statements which the speaker could reasonably anticipate would be later used in a criminal trial.

Question 4

What are some examples of testimonial hearsay?

Answer 4

• Statements before grand jury for indictment
• Calls to police
• statements during preliminary hearings
• Statements during prior trials
• Statements during police interrogation

Question 5

Under Davis, Testimonial hearsay is admissible when?

Answer 5

When the statement was given during the course of an ongoing emergency (police interrogation during an ongoing emergency)

Question 6

Under Giles, what must a defendant do to forfeit their right to the confrontation clause?

Answer 6

The defendant must attempt/cause the death or murder of a witness with the specific intent to cause the unavailability of that witness

• Counts if defendant gets someone else to do it for them
• Don’t actually have to kill the witness, likely has to be the reason they are unavailable