6th Amendment Confrontation Clause

Question 1

Crawford v Washington (must be a criminal case)

Answer 1

The use of an out-of-court statement (even if it falls under a valid hearsay exception or testimonial privilege) violates the defendant’s constitutional rights under the 6th Amendment Confrontation Clause if:

1. The proceeding is a criminal action (not civil);
2. The declarant is unavailable to be cross-examined at trial;
3. The defendant did NOT have the opportunity to cross-examine the declarant at a proceeding prior to trial; AND
4. The statement is testimonial

• A statement is testimonial if the declarant would reasonably expect that the statement would be used for prosecution purposes.
• A common issue is whether statements made to police are testimonial.
• A statement made to police whose primary purpose is to collect evidence to be used in a future criminal prosecution is testimonial.
• A statement made to police whose primary purpose is to provide assistance in an ongoing emergency is NOT testimonial.