By announcing a new standard for admissibility of
hearsay evidence at probation violation hearings, Negron serves as the black sheep in a long line of precedential case law.
The concurring Justices agreed with the majority's judgment, but suggested that the Court adopt a version of the United States' amicus argument that the Confrontation Clause in general may not apply to the admission of
hearsay evidence unless it is in the format of "formalized testimonial materials, such as affidavits, depositions, prior testimony, or confessions.
Accordingly, the defendant had no right to confront declarants if the prosecution's
hearsay evidence had sufficient indicia of reliability.
Under Crawford,
hearsay evidence must be excluded in criminal cases when
But
hearsay evidence, which is not allowed in a criminal case, usually forms only a part of an invariably overwhelming weight of evidence.
During a preliminary trial hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC revealed he would be making legal moves to allow
hearsay evidence to be led.
There was only
hearsay evidence in support of a second allegation that on July 19, 2006, Brine accessed and or attempted to access sexually-explicit material, via the internet, using a laptop belonging to the school, while pupils were present in class, the panel found, and the allegation was dismissed.
It would permit the use of evidence obtained through coercion, along with
hearsay evidence, and evidence that is kept secret from the accused.
Sharon Marsh, SLH's anti-social behaviour team manager, said: "Judges prefer to hear from a resident in the community rather than rely on
hearsay evidence, so the establishment of this programme was vital and the benefits are already substantial
The diaries have already proved a powerful weapon in the war on anti-social behaviour - used as
hearsay evidence in civil proceedings to secure scores of injunctions, ASBOs and evictions.
The Criminal Justice Bill -scrapping some juries and allowing
hearsay evidence -talks of ``tilting the balance in favour of the victim''.
Mr Hyams said: 'If this exclusion was lawful, then it would be open to any headteacher in the country to attend an appeal hearing without any witnesses, having himself or herself carried out no sort of investigation, but relied upon
hearsay evidence and then produced a statement.
