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| Ohio v. Roberts, No. 78-756,
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, June 25, 1980, Decided
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Overview: At defendant's criminal trial for forgery of checks and possession of stolen credit cards, the trial court admitted into evidence, pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code Ann. ¿ 2945.49 (1975), testimony from defendant's preliminary hearing by a witness not present at trial that contradicted defendant's testimony that he had permission to use the checks and credit cards in question. The appellate court reversed defendant's convictions, and the Ohio state supreme court affirmed, on grounds that defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated. U.S. Const. amend. VI. On certiorari, the Court reversed. The Court rejected defendant's contention that because the witness was not cross-examined during the preliminary hearing, the testimony was inadmissible at trial. The Court ruled that because defendant's counsel questioned the witness at the preliminary hearing and because the questioning was replete with leading questions, the testimony bore sufficient indicia of reliability so as not to offend the Confrontation Clause. Further, the Court ruled because the evidence clearly established that the witness was not available at trial, the trial court properly admitted the testimony.
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| Richmond Newspapers v. Va., No. 79-243,
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, July 2, 1980, Decided
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Overview: The court reversed a closure order excluding the press and the public from a murder trial. Defendant had moved that the trial be closed in order to prevent leaks to the media which could then be seen by jurors. Appellant newspaper reporters' motion to vacate the closure order was denied and their writs of mandamus and prohibition were dismissed. Although the trial had long since ended, the underlying dispute was not moot because it was capable of repetition, yet evading review. As to the merits, the right of the press and the public to attend criminal trials was implicit in the guarantees of the U.S. Const. amend. I. The trial court made no findings to support closure. Various tested alternatives existed to satisfy the constitutional demands of fairness in a trial, but none were considered to deal with potential problems with the witnesses and the jury. Absent an overriding interest articulated in findings, the trial of a criminal case had to be open to the public.
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