Brief filed: 05/13/2010
Documents
United States v. Blazier
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; Case No. 09-0441/AF
Argument(s)
The defendant’s confrontation right precludes the use of drug testing lab “litigation packages” and surrogate expert witnesses (witnesses who testify not no first-hand knowledge of the facts, but as to the hearsay reports and opinions of others); admission of the drug test report materials at defendant’s trial pursuant to Military Rule of Evidence 803(6) violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him; opinions offered by the prosecution under M.R.E. 703 cannot satisfy the requirements of the Confrontation Clause when the underlying facts or data come from a nontestifying person or entity.
Author(s)
Donald G. Rehkopf Jr., Brenna, Brenna & Boyce PLCC, Rochester, NY.