U.S. Supreme Court
Mass. AG to Make First Supreme Court Appearance in Sixth Amendment Case
Posted Nov 10, 2008, 10:12 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley makes her first U.S. Supreme Court appearance today to argue that the state is not obligated to produce forensic scientists for courtroom testimony about their lab reports.
The argument raises Coakley’s profile at a time she has indicated an interest in replacing Sen. John Kerry if he becomes a member of Barack Obama’s cabinet, the Boston Globe reports. Before becoming attorney general, Coakley was a district attorney and assistant DA who prosecuted several high-profile cases, including the shaken-baby prosecution of British au pair Louise Woodward.
The case before the Supreme Court asks whether a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confrontation includes the right to demand live testimony from crime lab technicians, the ABA Journal reported in an August story, “Taking Trials to Court.” The case is Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.
Arguing the case for the defendant is Stanford University law professor Jeffrey Fisher, who established a defendant’s right to question a witness who had made a tape-recorded statement to police in Crawford v. Washington.
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