[DV_listserv] State v. Supanchick AFFIRMED by Oregon Supreme Court

[Domestic Violence issues]

GREAT NEWS! The Oregon Supreme Court has affirmed the Appellate and trial courts' rulings re: Forfeiture By Wrongdoing!

"We conclude that, when a defendant has intentionally made a witness unavailable to testify, the defendant loses the right to object that that evidence should not be admitted on state constitutional confrontation grounds. The defendant's act ensures that the witness's testimony can never be subject to "testing in the crucible of cross examination." Crawford, 541 US at 61. In other words, where a defendant acts wrongfully to make a witness unavailable, that defendant largely controls the very feature of the evidence to which he objects. The principle of forfeiture by wrongdoing, as its history shows, ensures that a defendant cannot manipulate proceedings in that way. It likewise establishes that, if a defendant attempts that kind of manipulation, he or she cannot evade its consequences."

"We conclude that, the trial court did not err in admitting, over defendant's statutory and constitutional objections, some of the statements that his wife made before her death."

http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/S060017.pdf

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