U.S. Supreme Court reverses L.A. man's murder conviction
The 6-3 ruling in Giles vs. California makes it more difficult to use out-of-court statements and could be a blow to prosecutors in domestic violence cases.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court dealt a setback to prosecutors in domestic violence cases today, ruling that a murder victim's earlier reports to the police may not be used against the accused killer at his trial unless it can be shown he intended to silence her as a witness.
The justices in a 6-3 decision overturned the murder conviction of a Los Angeles man who shot and killed his girlfriend. He said he acted in self-defense, but he was convicted after the jury heard a police officer's report that the girlfriend said he had threatened to kill her.
In today's decision, Justice Antonin Scalia said the use of that police report violated the accused killer's right to "confront" his accusers in court.
The California Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Dwayne Giles and said the defendant did not have a right to profit from his wrongdoing. By killing the victim, she was unable to testify against him, the state court said.
But the Supreme Court reversed that decision in Giles vs. California.
The 6th Amendment states that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against them," Scalia noted.
"We decline to approve an exception to the Confrontation Clause unheard of at the time of the founding or for 200 years thereafter," Scalia said today.
The dissenters -- Justices Stephen Breyer, John Paul Stevens and Anthony M. Kennedy--foresaw the court's rigid rule against "great practical difficulties."
Prosecutors in domestic violence cases have closely watched the Giles case. They feared that in many instances, it would be hard, or even impossible, to prove that a dead spouse or girlfriend was killed in order to prevent her testimony. In such instances, the court's insistence on enforcing the confrontation right would appear to bar prosecutors from using at a trial the victim's past statements to police or to nurses.
Prosecutors say domestic murders often take place after months or years in which police have been called to the house. Today's decision may not prevent the police from reporting what they witnessed, but it does appear to prohibit them from repeating the words of the apparent victim.
Until 2004, the court had allowed prosecutors to use out-of-court statements -- such as reports to the police -- in trials in which the witness was unavailable or unwilling to testify. This rule was particularly important in domestic violence cases because spouses or partners often refused to testify during a trial.
