The Sixth Amendment

Source:
Defendant can cross-examine forensic experts, Supreme Court rules. June 26,2009.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/26/nation/na-court-lab26

Constitutional Connection:
The Amendments, Amendment Six , Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses
"To be confronted with the witnesses against him"

Explanation of Connection:

   The accused, Luis Melendez-Diaz, was found guilty of selling cocaine. Melendez, denied that the nineteen bags of cocaine found in a car,that they believed to belong to him was his. Many crime labs test results have been challenged in the last decade due to faulty evidence. Melendez wanted to exercise his Sixth amendment right, after the evidence was prepared by forensic technicians. His request was first overruled. Soon after being found guilty, the high court reversed this conviction, on the grounds that Luis Melendez's Sixth amendment right had been violated.

   This Article clearly demonstrates The Amendments, Amendment Six, Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses. The accused has the right to be confronted with the witness against him. In this trial, the forensic technicians would act as the "witnesses" against Melendez. Requiring the prosecution to present the technicians lab results as possible evidence, if asked to by the defendant. Which could help the defendant's case, if evidence was proved to be faulty, or if other issues were to come up with the forensic technicians.


  I think that it was a good idea for the technicians to be called to present the evidence in court. They are the ones who are either proving the defendant guilty or innocent, based on what should be strictly scientific conclusions. The defendant should have the right to cross-examine their "accusers".