Venue: |
SCOTUS
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Facts: |
It's a drunken party, and a woman gets killed. |
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Posture: |
Convicted at trial, reversed by DE SC. Prosecutor appeals? |
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Issue: |
Was the trial court's exclusion of evidence showing bias on the
part of a prosecution witness error, and was it harmful? |
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Holding: |
Yes, and don't know. Vacated. Remanded. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Dicta: |
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