Suppose two defendants, Able and Baker, are jointly tried as codefendants before a trial jury for the same criminal offense. Prior to opening statements, however, Able confesses to the crime out of court, but the confession also implicates Baker. Able’s confession is admissible hearsay evidence insofar as it inculpates Able, but such a confession deprives Baker of his right to confront and cross-examine any witness against him. In such an instance, Able’s confession may not be admitted in court in its entirety. In Bruton v. United States (391 U.S. 123 (1968)), the Supreme Court held that a defendant’s out-of-court oral confession which also inculpated his codefendant was not subject to cross-examination and therefore violative of the codefendant’s constitutional right of confrontation. Thus, the defendant’s extrajudicial statements were inadmissible hearsay.
codefendant
Definition
One of multiple defendants jointly sued in the same litigation or charged with the same crime. Also termed joint defendant.
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
One of two or more defendants charged with the same crime or sued in the same claim. Also called joint defendant.
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:12 pm
“Not only were the incriminating portions of Mark Lilly’s confession not a declaration against penal interest, but these statements were part of a custodial confession of the sort that this Court has viewed with ‘special suspicion’ given a codefendant’s ‘strong motivation to implicate the defendant and to exonerate himself.’” J. Stevens, Lilly v. Virginia, 527 U.S. 116, 146 (1999).
