A fed­er­al judge pre­sid­ing over the Aryan Brotherhood mur­der tri­al in Santa Ana, California, has ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which requires that defen­dants be giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­front and cross exam­ine wit­ness­es tes­ti­fy­ing against them at tri­al, applies to at least part of the fed­er­al death penal­ty sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dure as well. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 in Crawford v. Washington that tes­ti­mo­ni­al evi­dence from a per­son against a defen­dant can­not sim­ply be pre­sent­ed in the form of a doc­u­ment, but instead the wit­ness must be present for cross exam­i­na­tion. U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled that Crawford applies to fed­er­al death penal­ty sen­tenc­ing, as well. ​“Because the death penal­ty is unique­ly dif­fer­ent in its final­i­ty and sever­i­ty, increased scruti­ny is required at every step of the cap­i­tal process to ensure that death is the appro­pri­ate penal­ty,” Carter wrote. Some of the gov­ern­men­t’s evi­dence relies on inci­dents that occurred 30 years ago, and it did not plan to present wit­ness­es to back up all of its case.

(Associated Press, Aug. 18, 2006; U.S. Dist. Ct. for Central Calif.; defen­dants Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham). See Federal Death Penalty.

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