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SCOTUS will revisit crime lab confrontation decision

Over the weekend the New York Times ran a story by Adam Liptak previewing a US Supreme Court case ("Justices revisit rule requiring lab testimony," Dec. 19) called Briscoe v. Virginia that prosecutors hope will overturn the Melendez-Diaz case from last term requiring confrontation for testimony by crime lab workers. (Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog discussed this case last summer soon after the court agreed to hear it; oral arguments will happen January 11. See the SCOTUSWiki page for briefs and lower court decisions.)The case doesn't affect Texas state courts, which already have confrontation procedures which comply with the SCOTUS ruling, but it's important both for federal cases and because the debates surrounding the issue reach core questions about errors and misconduct uncovered in the last few years at the nation's crime labs: Should crime lab work product be considered neutral and scientific or does it require cross-examination just like other kinds of testimony put on by the state in criminal cases?Another story published in the Times two days before ("Report condemns police lab oversight," Dec...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 21, 2009 (boomark / email).