Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S

Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402 (1960)

Gonzales. Stephanie

JS 143

 

Michigan V. Bryant

562 US 344 (2011)

 

Procedural History

• Question about the shooting
• Richard Bryant is the defendant
• Bryant shot Covington who then past
• Search took place at ricks house where evidence was found
• Trial for murder (statements were admitted at excited utterances)
• Michigan supreme court reversed the trial court on ground that the statements made by Covington didn’t fall under the emergency exemption
• State appealed

 

Issue

• The issue being is whether the statement made to help the police that assist and ongoing emergency testimonial up for the confrontation purpose

Facts

• April 29th, 2011time was 3:25 am setting was a gas station
• Police arrived responding to a shooting when they arrived they found Anthony Covington
• He was suffering from a gunshot wound and was then questioned in regard to what happened
• Richard Bryant was the primary suspect because of Anthony’s response
• Gave testimony that he got shot at the back door when trying to leave, and fled to the gas station 6 blocks away
• Anthony then got transferred to a hospital and passed away hours after
• When searching Bryant’s home, they found evidence of blood and shell casings at the back porch along with a bullet hole in the door

When on trial for murder the trial, court stated that the statement were excited utterances which then the Michigan supreme court reversed the court ruling Anthony’s statements are testimonial and don’t fall under Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 2006 emergency exception

 

 

Rule of Law

• Testimonial statements given to help the police describing an ongoing emergency aren’t liable to the confrontation purpose due to the fact that they are not made for a primary purpose in creating a record for trial.    

Reasoning

• Actions of both Covington and the officers showed an ongoing emergency since he had fled and couldn’t determine Bryant’s location and the emergency was 6 blocks away the risk of the emergency became to the public and police
• Questions are the type that would be asked to resolve the emergency the injuries made to Covington caused pain and if needing medical assistance then he should have been concerned with making statements in use at trial

 

Holding

• Lacked “indicia of solemnity”
• Questioning isn’t relevant to the trial he wanted and knew his statements was to catch Bryant and get him in trouble

• Since it was shown that Anthony’s statements to the officers was to have them resolve an ongoing emergency then the statements he made were not testimonial. The court was then vacated, and case remanded.