New Mexico v. Schwartz
Petition for certiorari denied on February 23, 2015.
Issue
(1) Whether live, two-way video testimony " which is given under oath, allows the jury to assess the witness"s demeanor, and provides the accused a fair opportunity to confront and cross-examine " satisfies the constitutional requirement of face-to-face confrontation or qualifies as a permissible substitute for in-person testimony upon a showing of unavailability or other necessity-based standard; and (2) whether any impermissible use of two-way video testimony is subject to the harmless error standard of Delaware v. Van Arsdall, which evaluates a missing element of confrontation in the context of the witness's testimony and the trial as a whole, or instead is subject to the standard of Coy v. Iowa, which disregards the offending testimony in its entirety and considers only the remaining evidence.
Recommended Citation: New Mexico v. Schwartz, SCOTUSblog, https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/new-mexico-v-schwartz/