LITERAL CONFRONTATION

Briscoe v. Virginia, 130 S.Ct. 1316 (2010) deals with literal confrontation. At trial, the prosecution introduced, in accordance with Virginia law and over defense objection, two certificates of analysis. The certificates established that a substance that was confiscated from Briscoe was cocaine of a certain weight. The person who actually performed the analysis was not present at trial. However, Virginia law in effect at the time provided that Briscoe had the right to call the analyst as an adverse witness, to be summoned by the Commonwealth and at the Commonwealth's expense.

The court had to determine if the state avoided violating the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment by allowing a prosecutor to introduce a certificate of a forensic laboratory analysis, without presenting the testimony of the analyst who prepared the certificate.

The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Virginia Supreme Court and remanded the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ----, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009).