Court Opinion

ID: 9473999
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:45:21.299338+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:51.141267
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In this habeas corpus case collaterally attacking petitioner’s Ohio burglary conviction, I do not agree with the Court that state court admission of deceased co-conspirator Martin’s incriminating statement made in petitioner’s presence violated the Confrontation Clause. By shrugging his shoulders rather than denying or disagreeing with confederate Martin’s statement, petitioner adopted it in the sense that he said, in effect, “I do not contest what he said.” Martin’s statement is reliable because it expressly admits that both participated in the crime—and hence is a statement against Martin’s penal interest—and because it was made in petitioner’s presence. Surely such an uncontested statement incriminating both has sufficient reliability to meet the test of the Confrontation Clause. The Confrontation Clause requires state courts as well as federal, to observe basic principles of fairness in admitting hearsay testimony. I do not see any possibility of unfairness when a state court admits an incriminating statement of a deceased co-conspirator made directly in the presence of and acknowledged and not disputed by the defendant when the truth of the incriminating statement is fully and completely corroborated by other independent evidence.