Opinion ID: 835810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: confrontation clause claims

Text: Defendant identifies 15 instances during his trial in which witnesses testified concerning another person's out-of-court statements. Defendant argues that admitting this testimony violates his rights under the federal Confrontation Clause. See Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004) (interpreting Confrontation Clause). Defendant did not object to this testimony below but argues that we should reach his federal constitutional claims under the plain error doctrine. The state responds that the challenged statements do not constitute plain error. It notes that some statements defendant now challenges are not hearsay. Other statements, it contends, are not testimonial and thus do not raise Confrontation Clause issues under Crawford. Alternatively, the state argues that, even if some of the statements are testimonial and the error is apparent on the face of the record, we should not exercise our discretion to reach it. As noted above, as a matter of state procedural law, an appellate court will reach an unpreserved issue only if the error is apparent on the face of the record and if it is appropriate, in the exercise of the court's discretion, to reach the issue. See Ailes, 312 Or. at 381, 823 P.2d 956 (explaining plain error doctrine). Even if we assume that the error is plain, this is not an appropriate occasion to reach it. As the state notes, if defendant had raised a timely objection, the state could have found other ways to prove the facts that defendant now challenges, or it could have chosen to forego the testimony and avoid the issue. In these circumstances, we decline to exercise our discretion to reach the unpreserved issues that defendant asks us to decide. See id. at 382, 823 P.2d 956 (explaining courts' discretion not to reach apparent errors). Having considered the issues that defendant's assignments of error raise, we affirm the judgment of conviction and sentence of death. The judgment of conviction and sentence of death are affirmed.