SCOTUS: Admission of Lab Analyst's Affidvait Violated Confrontation Clause
June 25, 2009

Today, in a 5-4 decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Mass., no. 07-591, the Supreme Court of the United States held that a lab analyst's affidavit---stating that material seized by police and connected to petitioner was cocaine of a certain quantity---constituted testimonal evidence and its admission without the opportunity for cross-examination violated the Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses.

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