Publication Date
3-2010
Document Type
Casenote
Abstract
In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, the United States Supreme Court held that the Massachusetts trial court's admission into evidence of forensic "certificates of analysis" violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Following Crawford v. Washington, the Supreme Court held that the accused has a right to be confronted with the forensic analysts at trial unless "the analysts [are] unavailable to testify at trial" and the accused "had a prior opportunity to cross-examine" the analysts. Melendez-Diaz will have an important impact on criminal evidence procedure, specifically in regard to the potential growth of notice-and-demand statutes.
Recommended Citation
Sellers, Jody L.
(2010)
"No Witness? No Admission: The Tale of Testimonial Statements and Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 61:
No.
2, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol61/iss2/10