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Montoya v. California

414 U.S. 931 Court SCOTUS Decision date 1973-10-15 Docket No. 72-6419 English

Decision Majority · Dissent — Douglas J.

Contents

Majority

p. 931
No. 72-6419.
Montoya v. California.

Ct. App. Cal., 4th App. Dist. Certiorari denied.

dissenting.

Petitioner, convicted of arson, bribery, and conspiracy, argues that the introduction of incriminating extra

Dissent — Douglas J.

p. 932
judicial statements of a codefendant when the co-defendant was unavailable to testify because of his claim of Fifth Amendment privilege constituted a violation of petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. As in Dutton v. Evans, 400 U. S. 74 , where this Court rejected a similar claim, I feel that the Sixth Amendment prohibits the State from putting damaging statements before the jury when the defendant has no opportunity to test those statements for truthfulness and meaning through cross-examination of the declarant. See Dutton v. Evans, supra, at 104 (Marshall, J., dissenting).

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