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The Court decided (4+1-2) Michigan v. Bryant, No. 09-150, today. The following summary is "borrowed" from SCOTUS blog:

The Court rules that a statement given to police by a wounded crime victim may be admitted as evidence at the trial if the victim dies before trial and thus does not appear. The Court rules that such a statement which identifed the shooter, was made for the primary purpose to enable police to deal with an emergency rather than the primary purpose of producing evidence of the crime.
 
Posts: 444 | Location: Austin, Texas, USA | Registered: January 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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It seems to be a straightforward application of Davis's "ongoing emergency" exception. Why on Earth weren't they proceeding under dying declaration?
 
Posts: 1116 | Location: Waxahachie | Registered: December 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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IIRC, I don't think the prosecutors were able to establish a predicate for dying declarations. So they went with excited utterance.
 
Posts: 143 | Location: Fort Worth | Registered: August 08, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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You know, I can't decide which Scalia line I like best. That the majority's description of the case "is so transparently false that professing to believe it demeans this institution," or that "Instead of clarifying the law, the Court makes itself the obfuscator of last resort."

And that's only from the first paragraph!
 
Posts: 1116 | Location: Waxahachie | Registered: December 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Surely, Andrea, you wouldn't want a rehearing granted?
 
Posts: 444 | Location: Austin, Texas, USA | Registered: January 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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A rehearing on dying declaration wouldn't do any good, since it was apparently abandoned by the State at a lower level. It just seems very strange that they would do so.
 
Posts: 1116 | Location: Waxahachie | Registered: December 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I would describe the vote as a solid 6-2. Thomas' dissent just narrows the justification.

Scalia does sing. But he sings a bit too loudly and off-key.

I suspect he realizes that the new test of what is testimonial is just about as accommodating as the old test of reliability. A long way around to get back to the same place.

Bottom line is that a majority of SCOTUS is not going to let a dying man's words escape use in the courtroom.
 
Posts: 7860 | Location: Georgetown, Texas | Registered: January 25, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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As JB highlights, I can't count. But the case is interesting on several levels, notwithstanding that the dying declaration exception wasn't utlized:

(1) Sotomayor wrote the majority and (therefore?) Scalia dissagrees with the result; (2) The decision seems to amount to a withdrawal from Crawford at least for crimes in a public place and involving a deadly weapon; and (3) I'm not so sure we don't have a new standard of objectivity.

Overall, it maybe a precursor for returning to a Roberts-like formula.
 
Posts: 444 | Location: Austin, Texas, USA | Registered: January 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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