Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Grits for Breakfast

Criminal Law

: Grits for Breakfast

Confronting SCRAM

With the US Supreme Court this week revisiting at oral argument the question of requiring confrontation at trial for lab reports (i.e., giving the defense the right to cross-examine the lab worker), I found this anecdote from DA Confidential a particularly compelling example of why the right to vigorously question forensic evidence is important, regardless of complaints about "inefficiency" and cost. The case involved a defendant required to wear a SCRAM device, which is an anklet commonly used for DWI probationers that purportedly monitors blood alcohol levels. As DA Confidential tells it:Where was I? Ah yes, the gentleman wearing a Scram. I'll call him Mr. Smith. So his bond was revoked and he was put back in jail when his Scram showed he'd been drinking just before Christmas...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).