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Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, No. 07-591

By standdown

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the above-styled case.  The transcript is here."Court Weighs How Juries Should Hear Lab Evidence," is Adam Liptak's report in today's New York Times.The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a case that could have broad implications for how prosecutors present evidence from crime laboratories at trial. Many states allow reports from crime laboratories to be submitted to juries through written certifications rather than live testimony. That practice is convenient, but it may run afoul of the Sixth Amendment?s ?confrontation clause,? which guarantees criminal defendants the right to confront the witnesses against them. Several justices seemed to struggle to find the dividing line between the kinds of information that must be presented through live testimony and those that are routine, reliable or tangential enough to require only a written certification...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on November 11, 2008 (boomark / email).