crime-laboratory-toxicological-detection-test-on-2023-11-27-04-58-32-utc

Supreme Court Clarifies Application of Confrontation Clause to Forensic Analysis

In Smith v. Arizona, 602 U.S. ____ (2024), the U.S. Supreme Court held that when an expert conveys an absent lab analyst’s statements in support of the expert’s opinion, and the statements provide that support only if true, then the statements come into evidence for their truth, and implicate the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. The Court’s decision was unanimous.