Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Virginia Journal of Criminal Law
Volume
2
Publication Date
2014
Keywords
autopsy reports, Sixth Amendment, Confrontation Clause
Abstract
Courts nationwide are divided over whether autopsy reports are “testimonial” under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. Resolving that split will affect medical examiners as dramatically as Miranda did police. This article applies the latest Supreme Court jurisprudence to the work of modern medical examiners in a comprehensive inquiry. It argues that autopsy reports should be presumed non-testimonial—a presumption overcome only by a showing that law enforcement involvement materially influenced the examiner’s autopsy report.
Recommended Citation
Daniel J. Capra and Joseph Tartakovsky,
Autopsy Reports and the Confrontation Clause: A Presumption of Admissibility, 2 V.C.J.L. 62
(2014)
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/527
