On February 28, 2011, the United States Supreme Court decided Michigan v. Bryant, its latest Crawford case. In an opinion written by Justice Sotomayor, the Court held that a homicide victim’s statements to responding officers were non-testimonial. In this post, I will explore the majority opinion. In my next post, I will summarize the other opinions, focusing on Scalia’s dissent. In my final post, I’ll look at Bryant’s implications for future cases. The facts of Bryant are as follows. At around 3:25 a.m., Detroit officers responded to a dispatch indicating that a man had been shot. They arrived at the scene and found Covington lying on the ground next to his car at a gas station, with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He appeared to be in great pain, and spoke with difficulty. The police asked what happened, who shot him, and where the shooting occurred. Covington said that “Rick” shot him at around 3 a.m. He explained that he spoke with Bryant at Bryant’s house and when he turned to leave, he was shot. He then drove to the gas station. This conversation lasted about 5-10 minutes, ending when emergency medical services arrived. Covington died within hours. After speaking with Covington, the police called for backup and went to Bryant’s house. Although Bryant was not there, they found blood and a bullet on the back porch, an apparent bullet hole in the back door, and Covington’s wallet and identification outside the house. At Bryant’s pre-Crawford murder trial, the State [...]
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