Davis v. Washington

E821194

Davis v. Washington is a U.S. Supreme Court decision that further defined the scope of the Confrontation Clause by clarifying when statements made to law enforcement are considered “testimonial” and thus subject to the rule announced in Crawford v. Washington.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Davis v. Washington canonical 7

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Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Confrontation Clause case
United States Supreme Court case
criminal procedure case
appliedTo statements made during a 911 emergency call
statements made to police officers responding to a domestic disturbance
areaOfLaw constitutional criminal procedure
criminal law
evidence law
citation 547 U.S. 813
concurrenceBy Clarence Thomas
Stephen G. Breyer
consolidatedWith Hammon v. Indiana
constitutionalProvision Confrontation Clause
Sixth Amendment
country United States
court Supreme Court of the United States
decisionDate 2006-06-19
decisionType precedential opinion
holding statements are nontestimonial when made in the course of police interrogation under circumstances objectively indicating that the primary purpose is to enable police assistance to meet an ongoing emergency
statements are testimonial when the circumstances objectively indicate that there is no ongoing emergency and the primary purpose of the interrogation is to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution
impact clarified scope of testimonial statements under the Confrontation Clause after Crawford
influenced later Confrontation Clause decisions such as Michigan v. Bryant
provided guidance on admissibility of 911 calls in criminal trials
joinedByInMajority Anthony M. Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
David H. Souter
John Paul Stevens
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Stephen G. Breyer
jurisdiction United States
keyIssue application of Crawford v. Washington to 911 calls and on‑scene statements
whether certain statements to law enforcement are testimonial for Confrontation Clause purposes
language English
legalTest primary purpose test for distinguishing testimonial from nontestimonial statements
majorityOpinionBy Antonin Scalia
petitioner Adrian Martell Davis
relatedCase Hammon v. Indiana
relatedPrecedent Crawford v. Washington
respondent State of Washington
result conviction in Davis’s case affirmed
conviction in Hammon’s case reversed and remanded
subjectMatter domestic violence prosecution
term October Term 2005

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Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Jeffrey L. Fisher notableCase Davis v. Washington
Hammon v. Indiana consolidatedWith Davis v. Washington
Hammon v. Indiana relatedTo Davis v. Washington
Hammon v. Indiana decidedWith Davis v. Washington
Michigan v. Bryant relatedCase Davis v. Washington
Ohio v. Clark appliedPrecedent Davis v. Washington