Opinion ID: 887762
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Right of Confrontation in Montana

Text: ¶ 57 In pertinent part, Article II, Section 24, provides that [i]n all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right ... to meet the witnesses against him face to face. (Emphasis added.) In State v. Clark, 1998 MT 221, 290 Mont. 479, 964 P.2d 766, we interpreted this guarantee and held that the admission of a state crime lab report under the public records and reports hearsay exception, see Rule 803(8), M.R.Evid., without requiring the presence of the technician who wrote the report, violated the defendant's state constitutional right to confront and cross-examine his accuser. See Clark, ¶¶ 25, 30. Importantly, based on the plain language of our Constitution, we held that Montana's Confrontation Clause provides the accused greater protection than does its federal counterpart, the Sixth Amendment. Clark, ¶¶ 20-25. We stated that [u]nlike its federal counterpart, the text of Montana's Confrontation Clause specifically guarantees the accused's right to meet the witnesses against him face to face. As we noted in State v. Young (1991), 249 Mont. 257, 260, 815 P.2d 590, 592, [t]he 1972 Montana Constitution and subsequent cases analyzing the Confrontation Clause have made it abundantly clear that full cross-examination is a critical aspect of the right of confrontation. Moreover, we have recognized that the rights contained in the Declaration of Rights, which include the rights guaranteed to an accused person in a criminal prosecution, are fundamental rights. Wadsworth v. State (1996), 275 Mont. 287, 299, 911 P.2d 1165, 1171-72. Clark, ¶ 22 (second alteration in original). ¶ 58 We then went on to discuss the importance of cross-examination, which is protected by the Confrontation Clause: Cross-examination is the hallmark of our system of justice because it produces truth. Such things as the demeanor of a witness, his or her body language, and a witness's hesitancy in giving testimony, often communicate as much to the fact-finder as the spoken words. Clark, ¶ 23. Finally, we observed that [t]he framers of the Montana Constitution appreciated these safeguards and saw fit to distinguish our Confrontation Clause from the United States Constitution by insuring a criminal defendant the right to meet the witnesses against him face to face. Mont. Const. art. II, § 24. Clark, ¶ 24. ¶ 59 The point of Clark is that whatever confrontation right the Sixth Amendment guarantees to persons accused of crimes, Montana's Constitution protects this right to an even greater extent because the plain language of our Constitution specifically guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a face-to-face confrontation with his or her accusers. Clark, ¶ 25 (emphasis added).