Three-year-old’s report of abuse to his preschool teachers was not testimonial hearsay, and therefore did not violate Confrontation Clause when admitted at trial. Neither the child—nor the teachers, despite their mandatory reporting obligations—had the “primary purpose” to create substitute for trial testimony or assist in prosecuting defendant, but rather to respond to ongoing child-abuse emergency by identifying and ending the threat to the child.
A. Scalia
Navarette v. California, No. 12-9490, __ U.S. __ (Apr. 22, 2014).
Under the totality of the circumstances, which began when an anonymous 911 caller reported that a vehicle had run her off the road, police officer had reasonable suspicion that the driver was intoxicated so that officer’s traffic stop complied with the Fourth Amendment.
Maryland v. King, No. 12–207, __ U.S. __ (June 3, 2013).
When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
Florida v. Jardines, No. 11–564, __ U.S. __ (Mar. 26, 2013).
Police using a drug dog at a home’s front door was a Fourth Amendment search.
Missouri v. Fry, No. 10–444, 566 U.S. __ (Mar. 21, 2012).
The Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel imposes on defense counsel “the duty to communicate formal offers from the prosecution to accept a plea on terms and conditions that may be favorable to the accused.”