Davis v. Washington

Davis v. Washington
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 20, 2006 Decided June 19, 2006
Full case name	Adrian Martell Davis, Petitioner v. Washington; Hershel Hammon, Petitioner v. Indiana
Docket nos.	05-5224
Citations	547 U.S. 813 (more) 126 S. Ct. 2266; 165 L. Ed. 2d 224; 2006 U.S. LEXIS 4886; 74 U.S.L.W. 4356; 19 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 299
Prior history	On writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Washington; on writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Indiana; State v. Davis, 154 Wn.2d 291, 111 P.3d 844, 2005 Wash. LEXIS 462 (2005) Hammon v. State, 829 N.E.2d 444, 2005 Ind. LEXIS 541 (Ind., 2005)
Subsequent history	On remand at, Remanded by Hammon v. State, 2006 Ind. LEXIS 793 (Ind., Sept. 7, 2006)
Argument	Oral argument
Holding
A 911 phone call describing an "ongoing emergency" is not testimonial in nature, and thus may be admitted at trial even if the caller is not available without violating the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause.
Court membership
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Case opinions
Majority	Scalia, joined by Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito
Concur/dissent	Thomas
Laws applied
Crawford v. Washington, Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause.

Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (2006), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that hearsay statements made in a 9-1-1 call asking for aid were not "testimonial" in nature and thus their introduction at trial did not violate the Confrontation Clause as defined in Crawford v. Washington.

Facts of the Case

Davis was arrested after Michelle McCottry called 911 and told the operator that he had beaten her with his fists and then left. At trial, McCottry did not testify, but the 911 call was offered as evidence of the connection between Davis and McCottry's injuries. Davis objected, arguing that presenting the recording without giving him the opportunity to cross-examine McCottry violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Crawford v. Washington. The Washington Supreme Court disagreed, finding that the call was not "testimonial" and was therefore different from the statements at issue in Crawford.

The Court's Decision

In a decision authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, as interpreted in Crawford v. Washington, does not apply to "non-testimonial" statements not intended to be used in a future criminal prosecution. Although McCottry identified her attacker to the 911 operator, she provided the information intending to help the police resolve an "ongoing emergency," not to testify to a past crime. The Court reasoned that under the circumstances, McCottry was not acting as a "witness," and the 911 transcript was not "testimony." Therefore, the Sixth Amendment did not require her to appear at trial and be cross-examined.

This case was decided with Hammon v. Indiana. In that case, the defendant was convicted of domestic battery. Responding to a call, police found the wife on the porch and the husband inside. Questioning them separately, the wife signed a police statement regarding abuse by her husband. She later refused to testify at trial. The Supreme Court ruled that the police report did qualify as testimonial in nature and was therefore inadmissible.

Thomas's Concurrence/Dissent

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. He argued that though McCottry's statements were not testimonial, the Court should not "guess" at the primary motive behind the statements.

See all

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 547
• List of United States Supreme Court cases

External links

• Decision of the Supreme CourtPDF (318 KiB)