Brief filed: 06/07/2010
Documents
Allshouse v. Pennsylvania
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 09-1396
Argument(s)
Petitioner was convicted in state court of simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child; state supreme court held that a statement by the infant’s four-year-old sister to a county children’s and youth services investigator that petitioner injured the infant’s arm was “nontestimonial” and admissible without violating the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause. Statements elicited by government child advocacy investigators are forensic in nature and therefore testimonial, although there is a split in authority on this question.
Author(s)
Prof. Jules Epstein, Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, DE.