Resuscitating Roberts - How Courts Should Construe the Emergency Exception to the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause

Authors

Sloan A. Heffron

Abstract

This paper argues that in the wake of Crawford, Davis, and Bryant, trial courts need a workable definition of "ongoing emergency," as well as a test that can be applied in assessing the admissibility of statements made under such circumstances. The paper first offers a definition for "ongoing emergency". It then offers a totality-of-the-circumstances test that can be applied in determining if a declarant's statement occurs during the course of an ongoing emergency.

Recommended Citation

Sloan A. Heffron, Resuscitating Roberts - How Courts Should Construe the Emergency Exception to the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause, 39 Hastings Const. L.Q. 861 (2012).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly/vol39/iss4/3