Delaware v. Van Arsdall

1986

Venue: SCOTUS

Facts: It's a drunken party, and a woman gets killed.

Posture: Convicted at trial, reversed by DE SC. Prosecutor appeals?

Issue: Was the trial court's exclusion of evidence showing bias on the part of a prosecution witness error, and was it harmful?

Holding: Yes, and don't know. Vacated. Remanded.

Rule: The Confrontation Clause of 6A secures "for the opponent the opportunity of cross-examination." There are limits to this, though, and not all infringements on this right are necessarily prejudicial.

Reasoning: Yes, this was a bad decision, but the DE SC needed to analyze whether it was harmful to the outcome or not. There has to be a "harmless error" analysis.

Dicta: