Criminal Proceedings in the United States

Criminal Proceedings Cases in California

In the year 2004, in Crawford v. Washington (541 U.S. 36 (2004)), the Court changed criminal trials by holding that a prosecutor could not use a written testimonial statement from an unavailable witness when there was no opportunity for cross-examination, even if the statement was reliable. Ever since, trial courts across the United States have struggled to define which statements qualify as testimonial.

In 2010, the California Supreme Court shed more light on this important matter when it decides Michigan v. Bryant (483 Mich. 132, 768 N.W. 2d 65 (2009), cert. granted, 130 S. Ct. 1685 (2010)). The context was a murder case in which, shortly before dying, the victim identified defendant Richard Bryant as his assailant. The issue, which arises in countless cases, is whether the dead victim’s statement is testimonial and therefore inadmissible (as the Michigan Supreme Court held), or nontestimonial and admissible to support a conviction.

Among other important criminal procedure developments, in 2010 also the California Supreme Court found ineffective assistance of counsel in three cases: Sears v. Upton (130 S. Ct. 3259 (2010)), Padilla v. Kentucky (130 S. Ct. 1473 (2010)), and Porter v. McCullom (130 S. Ct. 447 (2009)).

Also in 2010, the issue resurfaces in Belleque v. Moore, where the California Supreme Court considered whether a defense attorney’s failure to file a motion to suppress evidence of the defendant’s confession amounted to constitutionally defective representation (574 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2009), cert. granted, 130 S. Ct. 1882 (2010)).

The Supreme Court also weighed, in the habeas corpus context, the degree of deference to be accorded a state court’s summary disposition of a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel (Harrington v. Richter, 578 F.3d 944 (9th Cir. 2009), cert. granted, 130 S. Ct. 1506 (2010)).

Resources

Resources

• Summary Proceedings
• Stay Of Proceedings
• Frivolous Proceedings
• Supplementary Proceedings
• Federal Criminal Law
• In Forma Pauperis Proceedings
• Juvenile Proceedings
• Criminal Defamation
• International Criminal Court
• Judicial Proceedings
• Special Proceedings
• Criminal Law
• Court Procedure

Further Reading

• Information about Criminal Proceedings in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.