confrontation clause

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution states, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”
Throughout the years, this clause has been very controversial. In the 2004 case, Crawford vs. Washington; Michael Crawford and his wife, Sylvia Crawford had approached a man by the name of Kenneth Lee. There had been alleged allegations that Lee had tried to rape Mrs. Crawford. In the midst of the confrontation, Michael Crawford stabbed Lee in his torso. Michael then claimed he only did it acting in self-defense because he thought Lee had just picked up a weapon and was going to attack him first. In the trial for this case, Mrs. Crawford declined to testify against her husband, and was not required to do so under spousal privilege. However, her testimonial statement was later used against her husband because the facts of her statement and the facts in his statements were a little different. Noticeably, whether Lee was armed and made an advance prior to his stabbing came into question. Mr. Crawford was charged with assault and attempted murder. He was found guilty. The court found Crawford guilty based on his wife’s recorded statements, describing the stabbing that took place that the prosecutors played in court. The statement contradicted Michael’s defense that he stabbed Lee in self-defense of his wife. After this incident, the Confrontation Clause was put into effect. It serves two purposes. First, it protects the defendant from statements made outside of a court being used against a person when they have no opportunity to test or challenge the alleged statement, and second the Confrontation Clause gives a defendant the oppor...

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...trial and be cross-examined.
Testimonial evidence is oral or written assertion offered in a court as proof of the truth of what is being stated. It includes testimony and hearsay evidence. This is typically known for being one of the most popular types of evidence. It’s normally what you would see in movies or on TV shows, such as law & order. An example of this would be when a witness is called to the witness stand under oath and they speak to a jury, about what they know in regards to the facts of a case.
A confrontation issue could also arise in situations where a person would be considered “unavailable”. Such as, if a person refuses to testify, can’t remember the situation, or worse case scenario, has died. In this case then the courts would need to decide if the unavailable witness statement can be used at trial, this would depend on the hearsay exceptions.