Forensic scientists may be more frequent visitors to Virginia courtrooms as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday that laboratory reports are testimonial evidence and therefore invoke the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The court split 5-4, with Justice Scalia, the author of Crawford v.Washington, the 2004 opinion that rewrote the concept of what [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Crawford'
Lab tests may require more than affidavit
June 26th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Crawford, Criminal Law, U.S. Supreme Court
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Sex offender affidavit implicates Confrontation Clause
June 7th, 2007 · No Comments · Crawford
A Gloucester General District judge ruled today that use of an affidavit to establish that a sex offender did not register as required by state law violates the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Under Virginia Code § 18.2-472.1(D), a Virginia State Police affidavit of the defendant’s history of registration as a sex offender is prima [...]
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