DueProcess FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure Privacy
Should a court look beyond the four corners of a nontestitying codefendant's confession to determine if introduction of the confession violates the Confrontation Clause?
STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION Petitioner Rita Pultro was convicted by a jury in Delaware County, Pennsylvania of First Degree Murder. At trial a nontestifying codefendant’s confession was admitted into evidence. The confession was redacted to remove Petitioner’s name yet it still referred to another person. The redacted confession directly accused the Petitioner when, considered alongside other evidence, left no other conclusion but that the person referred to in the confession was the Petitioner. . Should a court look beyond the four corners of a nontestitying codefendant’s confession to determine if introduction of the confession violates the Confrontation Clause? i