Supreme Court issued the decision today in Bullcoming v. New Mexico and it's a victory for the criminal defendant under the Crawford rule. Here's the holding, which I lifted from the syllabus:
The Confrontation Clause, the opinion concludes, does not permit the prosecution to introduce a forensic laboratory report containing a testimonial certification, made in or-der to prove a fact at a criminal trial, through the in-court testimonyof an analyst who did not sign the certification or personally perform or observe the performance of the test reported in the certification. The accused’s right is to be confronted with the analyst who made thecertification, unless that analyst is unavailable at trial, and the accused had an opportunity, pretrial, to cross-examine that particular scientist.
It was a close 5-4 decision.
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