Opinion ID: 1201769
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: violation of the constitutional right to present a defense requires application of the federal harmless error standard

Text: Once a reviewing court determines that exclusion of defense evidence has violated the defendant's right of compulsory process, the effect of the violation on the validity of the resulting conviction is determined by harmless error analysis ( Crane v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 683, 691 [90 L.Ed.2d 636, 645-646, 106 S.Ct. 2142]) using the beyond a reasonable doubt standard (see Delaware v. Van Arsdall (1986) 475 U.S. 673, 684 [89 L.Ed.2d 674, 686-687, 106 S.Ct. 1431]). Under this test, the appropriate inquiry is not whether, in a trial that occurred without the error, a guilty verdict would surely have been rendered, but whether the guilty verdict actually rendered in this trial was surely unattributable to the error. ( Sullivan v. Louisiana (1993) 508 U.S. ___, ___ [124 L.Ed.2d 182, 189, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 2081], original italics.)