Opinion ID: 739733
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional Right to Confront Witnesses

Text: 18 A criminal defendant's right of confrontation extends to depositions. Christian v. Rhode, 41 F.3d 461, 465 (9th Cir.1994). It is clear from Craig, however, that Miguel's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses face-to-face was not infringed by the fact that the child witness testified out of Miguel's physical presence. See Craig, 497 U.S. at 857, 110 S.Ct. at 3169-70. 2 Craig identifies, however, additional constituent rights guaranteed by the Confrontation Clause: that the witness testify under oath, that he or she be subject to cross-examination, and that the finder of fact be allowed to observe the demeanor of the witness. Craig, 497 U.S. at 845-46, 110 S.Ct. at 3163-64. There is no doubt that in Miguel's case the child witness testified under oath and could be observed by the jury, albeit by television as in Craig. The only arguable injury to Miguel's confrontation interests would be an impingement upon the right of cross-examination. 19 Miguel's counsel conducted a thorough cross-examination of the child witness. The court did not prevent counsel from exploring any relevant potential source of impeachment. See Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1435, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986) (prohibition of all cross-examination regarding possible source of bias violates Confrontation Clause). Thus the purposes of the Confrontation Clause were fulfilled. See United States v. Sines, 761 F.2d 1434, 1441 (9th Cir.1985). The only imaginable interference with Miguel's right of cross-examination lies in the possibility that Miguel had a question or thought to relate to counsel that would have led to further questioning to which Miguel would have been entitled. As we have pointed out, however, the record is utterly devoid of any suggestion that Miguel had any question or thought to communicate to his counsel. 20 Even if we assume, without deciding, that the failure to provide Miguel with a contemporaneous means of communication violated his right of cross-examination, the error is harmless by Confrontation Clause standards. When cross-examination on a proper subject is denied, the test for harmless error is to assume that the damaging potential of the cross-examination [would be] fully realized, and then to determine whether the error was harmless in light of the importance of the witness's testimony in the entire case, the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted, and the overall strength of the prosecution's case. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 684, 106 S.Ct. at 1438. 3 Here, of course, we cannot assume that proffered cross-examination would have been successful, because Miguel has proffered none. Moreover, full cross-examination was otherwise permitted. Miguel clearly fails the Van Arsdall harmless error test. We conclude that Miguel has not shown any right to relief by reason of a violation of the Confrontation Clause. 21