Commonwealth v. Swann
Annotate this CaseBased on an anonymous tip implicating Defendant, Defendant was arrested and charged with abduction, robbery, and statutory burglary. After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for retrial, concluding that the trial court erred by admitting a police officer to testify as to the specific content of the anonymous tip that implicated Defendant in violation of Defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ judgment in reversing Defendant’s convictions but on narrower, non-constitutional grounds, holding that the officer’s testimony constituted inadmissible hearsay, and its admission was not harmless under non-constitutional principles.
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