{"id":416,"date":"2015-06-21T05:51:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T05:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.massachusettscriminaldefenselawyerblog.com\/2015\/06\/supreme-court-issues-long-awai.html"},"modified":"2015-06-21T05:51:35","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T05:51:35","slug":"supreme-court-issues-long-awai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/supreme-court-issues-long-awai\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court issues long-awaited Confrontation Clause ruling in Ohio v. Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a unanimous decision reached by differing concurring opinions, the Supreme Court of the United States finally resolved the question left open by Crawford asking whether statements made to persons other than law enforcement trigger the Confrontation Clause. Publishing its decision in Ohio v. Clark<\/u><\/a> today, the Court unanimously voted that statements made to a teacher at a school program by a child suffering from domestic abuse were not testimonial, and so not barred by the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause. <\/p>\n

The arguments before the court in this case were fierce, as the Court was poised to make a decision that would either limit a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to Confrontation or restrict prosecutions of countless cases involving child abuse. You can click here<\/a> to view a thorough outline of the facts of this case, the arguments, and the relevant law, in a prior posting on my blog. <\/p>\n

The Majority decided this case primarily on its unique set of facts in this case, rather than by issuing a categorical legal rule. The Court explained that the record clearly reflected that abused child’s statements were not made with the primary purpose of furthering a criminal investigation or prosecution. Instead, the child spoke with the teacher with the primary purpose of addressing an ongoing emergency, and the teacher’s questions were targeted at eliminating the threat to the child’s life. The Court noted that the conversation was informal and spontaneous, and that even the child’s age (4 years old) calls to question the possibility that the child could appreciate the use of his responses in a criminal investigation while merely responding to his teacher. <\/p>\n

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

In a unanimous decision reached by differing concurring opinions, the Supreme Court of the United States finally resolved the question left open by Crawford asking whether statements made to persons other than law enforcement trigger the Confrontation Clause. Publishing its decision in Ohio v. Clark today, the Court unanimously voted that statements made to a […]<\/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-416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-states-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court issues long-awaited Confrontation Clause ruling in Ohio v. Clark — Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog — June 21, 2015<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a unanimous decision reached by differing concurring opinions, the Supreme Court of the United States finally resolved the question left open by — June 21, 2015\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/supreme-court-issues-long-awai\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Supreme Court issues long-awaited Confrontation Clause ruling in Ohio v. 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