Supreme Court Limits Doctrine of 'Forfeiture By Wrongdoing'
The other Supreme Court decision of interest today to criminal law junkies is Giles v. California (pdf). The issue is whether a defendant forfeits his right under the Confrontation Clause "to confront a witness against him when a judge determines that a wrongful act by the defendant made the witness unavailable to testify at trial." Hearsay statements made to a police officer that incriminate a defendant typically cannot be used at the defendant's trial unless the person making the statements is available to be cross-examined. A murder victim is obviously unavailable, and the issue was whether an exception to the confrontation rule exists when the defendant has caused the unavailability of the witness.
Giles shot his ex-girlfriend. At trial he claimed he acted in self-defense. A police officer testified that the ex-girlfriend had reported three weeks earlier that Giles had accused her of having an affair and had threatened to kill her.
In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Scalia, the Court held that a defendant does not forfeit his Confrontation Clause right to bar testimonial statements made outside the courtroom (in this case, the ex-girlfriend's statement to the officer) when the person making those statements has not been cross-examined, even if she's unavailable for cross-examination only because the defendant killed her. The Court rejected the popular notion of "forfeiture by wrongdoing" unless the wrongdoing was designed to prevent the testimony from being given.
< Wednesday Morning Open Thread | Enough With Elitism > |