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... , available here. Stanford law professor Jeffrey L. Fisher will ague for Luis E. Melendez-Diaz. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will argue for the commonwealth, and Lisa H. Schertler, assistant to the U.S. Solicitor ... analysis in the Crawford decision was keyed to history - what the concept of confrontation meant in the Nation's founding years. In Melendez-Diaz, the Court will have to move into the modern era to determine whether there is a current meaning for "testimonial" evidence ...

... able to work much on the blog lately, because of the press of other work. But I attended the argument of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts in the Supreme Court yesterday and I want to report on that. (The transcript is available on the Court's website; ... certificates are to be prepared for usei n law enforcement, and the Commonwealth (represented at argument by Attorney General Martha Coakley) has not denied the point. Much of the discussion concerned the practical impact of holding that lab reports ...

... anything more critical to the outcome of a trial than examining whether a substance really is what it is." Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who argued and lost the case before the high court, said that "the majority failed to appreciate that its ... of the Sixth Amendment gives a person accused of crimes the right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." Luis Melendez-Diaz invoked Crawford to challenge his conviction on drug trafficking charges, which was based in part on a ...

... 2d ___, ___, 2008 WL 5174209, *15-16 (Miss 2008) (Diaz, J., dissenting) (drawing upon judicial and state experience to conclude that despite ... over the holidays, Stephen Beaven of The Oregonian reports that state Supreme Court Justice Martha Walters wants her colleagues to review the constitutionality of Oregon's death-penalty ... suggests death penalty review," is the AP report via KMTR-TV. Justice Martha Walters wrote in a concurring opinion on a Portland case that the court should consider Oregon ...

... from five to 19 offices since. But not everyone made the same choice. Martha Fay (Marty) Africa opted out of the expansion plans, cashing in her partnership but ... and consumer groups as a blow to consumer rights. But attorney Victor M. Diaz Jr. writes that after more than two years, concerns about CAFA are proving to ... . While the act brought major changes to several aspects of class action litigation, Diaz believes that it has led to better class representation by plaintiffs attorneys and better ...

... by defense attorneys who say it will help protect against wrongful convictions. But prosecutors say that the decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts will tax their already strapped resources, and ultimately lead to more cases against alleged drug ... to be cases called in courtrooms that end up getting dismissed, and that's frustrating," said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who argued the case and urged the Court to allow the reports to be admitted on their own. Instead, in a 5-4 ...

"AG [of Massachusetts] to argue before Supreme Court on lab reports": The Associated Press provides a report that begins, "Attorney General Martha Coakley is preparing to argue before the US Supreme Court in a case to decide whether prosecutors can use crime lab reports as evidence without having the forensic analyst who prepared them testify." At "SCOTUSblog," Lyle Denniston provides this preview of tomorrow afternoon's U.S. Supreme Court oral argument.

... evidence in criminal trials is presented to juries and how to classify a defendant's failure to report for a prison term. In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, the high court weighed policy of presenting crime lab findings in paperwork to juries. A Massachusetts ... labs or other labs have really been way off base and moreover really wrong." Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, however, argued against presenting live testimony from laboratory analysts, saying it would result in "undue burden ...