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Criminal Defendants Have Right to Question Lab Results

By Chris

Criminal defendants can now question the validity of lab results in court, thanks to a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court. In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that allowing prosecutors to submit forensic evidence without questioning by the defense is a violation of Sixth Amendment right to face one’s accuser, according to The New York Times. The decision invalidates the theory of neutral scientific evidence. “Dispensing with confrontation because testimony is obviously reliable is akin to dispensing with jury trial because a defendant is obviously guilty,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. The court heard the case Luis Melendez-Diaz of Boston, who was arrested for drug distribution & trafficking, along with two other men...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Criminal Defense Blog on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).