Opinion ID: 2193321
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jackie's Statements to Michael and Laura

Text: [T]he principal evil at which the Confrontation Clause was directed was the civil-law mode of criminal procedure, and particularly its use of ex parte examinations as evidence against the accused. . . . The text of the Confrontation Clause reflects this focus. It applies to witnesses against the accusedin other words, those who bear testimony. 2 N. Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Testimony, in turn, is typically [a] solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact. Ibid. An accuser who makes a formal statement to government officers bears testimony in a sense that a person who makes a casual remark to an acquaintance does not. The constitutional text, like the history underlying the common-law right of confrontation, thus reflects an especially acute concern with a specific type of out-of-court statement. Crawford, 541 U.S. at 51, 53-54, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Where nontestimonial hearsay is at issue, it is wholly consistent with the Framers' design to afford the States flexibility in their development of hearsay lawas does Roberts, and as would an approach that exempted such statements from Confrontation Clause scrutiny altogether. Where testimonial evidence is at issue, however, the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required: unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination. We leave for another day any effort to spell out a comprehensive definition of testimonial. Whatever else the term covers, it applies at a minimum to prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial; and to police interrogations. These are the modern practices with closest kinship to the abuses at which the Confrontation Clause was directed. Id. at 68, 124 S.Ct. 1354. When Jackie Washington made the disputed statements to Michael and Laura Johnson, she was not making [a] solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact. Id. at 51, 124 S.Ct. 1354. She was not [a]n accuser who makes a formal statement to government officers. Id. She was not giving testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a formal trial, and her conversations with Michael and Laura were not police interrogations. Jackie made the statements to Michael and Laura to seek immediate emergency help, not to bear testimony. Her statements to them were not testimonial and the Confrontation Clause does not bar their admission. The trial court did not err in admitting these statements. Moreover, recent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, indicate that Confrontation Clause protection does not extend to situations where governmental or law enforcement involvement does not exist. United States v. Peneaux, 432 F.3d 882, 895-896 (8th Cir.2005); Ferguson v. Roper, 400 F.3d 635, 638-640 (8th Cir.2005); United States v. Lee, 374 F.3d 637, 643-45 (8th Cir.2004); United States v. Reyes, 362 F.3d 536, 540-541 (8th Cir.2004).