{"id":215,"date":"2013-12-09T05:55:41","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T05:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.massachusettscriminaldefenselawyerblog.com\/2013\/12\/supreme-court-reviews-confront.html"},"modified":"2013-12-09T05:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T05:55:41","slug":"supreme-court-reviews-confront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/supreme-court-reviews-confront\/","title":{"rendered":"United Supreme Court reviews Confrontation Clause challenge to surrogate expert testimony in trial on federal drug charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Supreme Court in Turner v. U.S.<\/u><\/a> may soon decide on the constitutionality of admitting surrogate expert testimony against a defendant in a drug federal drug case. Massachusetts criminal defense attorneys should expect this decision to clarify earlier Supreme Court precedent in Williams v. Illinois<\/u> on the question of whether the Confrontation Clause<\/a> bars expert testimony by a lab supervisor premised on a lower analyst’s findings. <\/p>\n

After successfully petitioning the Supreme Court on a related issue, Turner has filed another appeal before the Court alleging violation of his constitutional right of confrontation. Turner was charged and convicted of distributing crack cocaine, a federal offense (21 U.S.C. sec.841(a)(1))<\/a>. During the jury trial, the trial judge allowed the federal prosecutor to call an expert witness who supervised a state crime lab where certain substances seized during Turner’s arrest were analyzed. At the crime lab, a lower ranking lab analyst allegedly conducted the required analysis and issued a one-page report concluding that the seized substances had traces of crack cocaine. During the lab analysis, the lab supervisor conducted a peer review of the results and signed off on the report. <\/p>\n

At the time of the trial, the lower analyst that conducted the actual analysis was on maternity leave, and so was not unable to testify. This analyst did, however, leave behind several hand-written notes created during the process. At the request of the federal prosecutor, the trial judge allowed the lab supervisor to testify in the analyst’s place with the understanding that the lab supervisor would rely only on his own findings and conclusions. Turner objected heavily to the court’s admission of the supervisor testimony because the supervisor frequently mentioned the written notes and conclusions of the lower analyst. More specifically, the supervisor testified that he relied on the notes and findings of the lower analyst in forming his opinion, and that he agreed with the analyst that the seized substances was cocaine-based. <\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States Supreme Court in Turner v. U.S. may soon decide on the constitutionality of admitting surrogate expert testimony against a defendant in a drug federal drug case. Massachusetts criminal defense attorneys should expect this decision to clarify earlier Supreme Court precedent in Williams v. Illinois on the question of whether the Confrontation Clause […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-states-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nUnited Supreme Court reviews Confrontation Clause challenge to surrogate expert testimony in trial on federal drug charges — Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog — December 9, 2013<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United States Supreme Court in Turner v. 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