Probably Boring for You But...

 This is probably not interesting for most of my readers, but it is quite interesting to me.   Little known fact about John Q. Police: He is interested in and follows criminal cases that are before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The most recent case and ruling that I find interesting, and of particular interest for police, and maybe even some of my readers, has to do with witness statements.  Particularly, it deals with "dying declarations", and a defendant's right to cross examine, or "confront his accusers".  In this case, Michigan v. Bryant, the defendant was convicted based on a dying declaration made by the victim in the case, who did eventually die and, therefore, was not available at trial.  Instead, police officers testified to what the victim told them (he told them the name of the person who shot him).  This is an example of hearsay, which is typically not allowed as evidence.  There are, however, a few exceptions to the hearsay rule, one of which is the dying declaration.

Of particular interest in this case to Supreme Court enthusiasts is Justice Scalia's and Justice Ginberg's dissenting opinions.  Neither Justice agreed with the decision of The Court.  Antonin Scalia is one of the most conservative people ever, and Ginsberg normally sides with the liberal Justices.  Scalia's colorful and cutting.  He all but calls the majority of The Court a bunch of idiots.

Anyway, if anyone has an hour to spare and you are interested, click the link to read the ruling of The Court, along with the dissenting opinions.  If you're anything like me, you'll have to read it two or three times to actually make sense of it.   To just get the gist of it, click here to go to cnn.com's coverage.