DUI And The Sixth Amendment: Lab Scientist Who Signed Report Must Testify, Not Colleague.
The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause gives the accused in all criminal prosecutions, the right, to be confronted with the witnesses against him. For anyone practicing in the area of DUI and drunk driving, the United States Supreme Court in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, (Slip opinion, June 2011), addressed the issue of “whether the Confrontation Clause [...]
Nevada Clarifies Statutory Procedure For Determining Defendant Mentally Retarded
If you intend to argue that your client is of insufficient mental intelligence in order to avoid the death penalty, Nevada requires proof from before the defendant turned 18, which demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she suffered from “significant subaverage intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior deficits.” In Ybarra v. State [...]
Admissibility of Statements When Expert Witness Unavailable
Under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), the testimonial statement of an otherwise unavailable witness is inadmissible “unless the defendant had an opportunity to previously cross-examine the witness regarding the witness’s statement.” Medina v. State, 122 Nev. 346, 353, 143 P.3d 471, 476 (2006). Recently, in Vega v. State, (126 Nev. Adv. Op. No. [...]
Expert Testimony, Hallmark v. Eldridge Revisited
In Higgs v. State, 126 Nev. Adv. Op. 1 (2010), the Nevada Supreme Court revisited the issue of admissibility of expert testimony and clarified an inconsistency (real or perceived) in its prior ruling on the topic: Hallmark v. Eldridge, 189 P.3d 646 (Nev. 2008). A couple of things are clear after Higgs: 1. Nevada only [...]
Expert Testimony
In 2008, the Nevada Supreme Court, in Hallmark v. Eldridge, 189 P.3d 646 (Nev. 2008) clarified the status of Nevada law relative to the admissibility of expert testimony. In Hallmark, the court began by stating, “The statute governing the admissibility of expert testimony in Nevada district courts is NRS 50.275…” Id. at 650. If a [...]
