In yesterday's post I set out the basics of the Bruton rule. Put simply, Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (1968), held that a defendant's confrontation clause rights are violated when a non-testifying codefendant's confession naming the defendant as a participant in the crime is introduced at their joint trial, even if the jury is instructed to consider the confession only against the codefendant. Later cases clarified that the confrontation clause is not violated by the admission of a non-testifying codefendant’s confession if: a proper limiting instruction is given and the confession is redacted to eliminate not only the defendant’s name but also any reference to his or her existence. Crawford, of course also was grounded in the confrontation clause. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). Not surprisingly then, it impacts the Bruton rule. Specifically, Crawford and its progeny have two significant implications on the Bruton rule. First, Crawford made clear that confrontation clause protections are limited to testimonial statements. Whorton v. Bockting, 549 U.S. 406, 420 (2007) (confrontation clause has “no application” to non-testimonial statements). Thus, if the statement is non-testimonial, neither Crawford nor Bruton apply. Although there does not appear to be a North Carolina decision on point, ample case law supporting this proposition exists in other jurisdictions. See, e.g., United States v. Figueroa-Cartagena, 612 F.3d 69, 85 (1st Cir. 2010); United States v. Dale, 614 F.3d 942, 955 (8th Cir. 2010); United States v. Johnson, 581 F.3d 320, 325-26 (6th Cir. 2009). This means that when [...]
Faculty Coordinators
