Cruz v. New York case brief

Cruz v. New York case brief summary
481 U.S. 186 (1987)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Petitioner challenged an order from the Court of Appeals of New York, which affirmed the trial court's conviction after holding that, during a joint trial, the confession of a co-defendant was not required to be excluded because petitioner himself had confessed, and his confession interlocked with that of his co-defendant.

CASE FACTS
Petitioner sought reversal of the state court's decision that ruled that his confession, which corroborated the confession of his co-defendant, was admissible as evidence against him at their joint trial.

DISCUSSION

• In reversing and remanding, the court held that petitioner's confession was not admissible under those circumstances. In instances such as this one where a nontestifying co-defendant's confession incriminating petitioner was not directly admissible as evidence against petitioner, the co-defendant's confession was not admissible during their joint trial, even if the jury was given a limiting instruction. 
• The admission of such a statement would have violated the Confrontation Clause of U.S. Constitutional Amendment VI.

CONCLUSION

The court rejected the reasoning upon which the lower court had based its decision, and reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

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