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Smith v. Arizona

Location: Arizona
Court Type: U.S. Supreme Court
Case Type: Amicus Curiae Brief
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Last Update: August 9, 2024

What's at Stake

Whether the Sixth Amendment鈥檚 confrontation right permits the prosecution in a criminal trial to present testimonial statements of a non-testifying laboratory analyst through an expert who relies on the non-testifying expert鈥檚 statement to reach their conclusions.

In this case, the lower court allowed a government expert to provide evidence regarding a lab test to support the conviction of a defendant on drug charges. The 桃子视频and the 桃子视频of Arizona filed an amicus brief with the NACDL urging the Supreme Court to hold that such testimony violates the Confrontation Clause by depriving the defendant of an opportunity to cross-examine the person who conducted the lab test. Our brief argued that the criminal legal system will not face an undue burden if the Court ruled that the Confrontation Clause is triggered in such circumstances. First, Petitioner鈥檚 construction of the confrontation right is already successfully administered in a number of states and has not proved unmanageable. Second, criminal trials already constitute a very small fraction of criminal prosecutions, and this fraction is no different in those states that already require the authoring analyst to testify in these circumstances. Third, any burdens on the prosecution can often be minimized through stipulations.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on June 21, 2024 that when an expert conveys an absent lab analyst鈥檚 statements in support of the expert鈥檚 opinion, and the statements provide that support only if true, then the statements come into evidence for their truth, and implicate the Sixth Amendment鈥檚 confrontation clause.

Vacated and remanded, 9-0. (June 21, 2024)

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