Michigan v. Bryant
Issues
Whether statements to police, that are given by a witness experiencing a medical emergency while the perpetrator is still at large should be classified as “nontestimonial” under the exception to the Confrontation Clause for statements made with a “primary purpose” of enabling police to meet an “ongoing emergency?”
As Anthony Covington lay on the ground injured from a gunshot wound, he provided police officers on the scene with a description of his alleged shooter, before dying a few hours later. The police arrested the suspected shooter, Richard Bryant, based on Covington’s statements, and Bryant was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder after the Michigan trial court admitted Covington’s statements into evidence. Bryant claims that the admission of Covington’s statements violated his right to cross-examine an opposing witness, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. The State of Michigan argues that Covington’s statements were obtained during the police’s response to an “ongoing emergency” and that its admission did not violate the Confrontation Clause. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will likely offer further guidance on what statements are “nontestimonial” under its landmark decisions in Crawford v. Washington and Davis v. Washington, which redefined the ambit of the Confrontation Clause.
On April 29, 2001, Detroit police officers found Anthony Covington lying on the ground next to his car in a gas station, with a gunshot wound in his abdomen. Covington, in response to the officers’ immediate questions about what happened, replied that he had been shot by the Respondent, Richard Perry Bryant, at approximately 3 a.m. According to Covington, he was standing outside Bryant’s house having a brief conversation through the back door with Bryant when Bryant shot him through the wooden door. Although Covington did not see who shot him, he claimed that he recognized Br
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Additional Resources
- Richard D. Friedman: The Confrontation Blog
- New York Law Journal, Paul Schectman: U.S. Supreme Court to Tackle When Statement is Testimonial (July 19, 2010)