Opinion Streams

The Supreme Court essentially answered “Yes” when, in a 6-3 ruling yesterday it threw out the conviction of a man who murdered his ex-girlfriend.  The case involved a man convicted of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend three weeks after she told police that he had choked her and threatened to slash her with a knife.  The trial court admitted her police statement to counter his self-defense plea, reasoning that, by killing her, the defendant had forfeited his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser.  The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, essentially ruling that the right of a defendant to confront his accuser extends even to the situation where the defendant has murdered his accuser.

Message to scum bag domestic abusers: if you kill your girlfriend to keep her from testifying that you abused her, you might just get away with it!  How dare the Supreme Court contort Sixth Amendment jurisprudence in this way!  The implications of this horrific opinion for victims of domestic violence is tremendous.  Why should a victim report abuse if her abuser can simply kill her to keep her quiet…AND GET AWAY WITH IT?!  The twisting of the Sixth Amendment by the Supreme Court is especially troubling because often victims of domestic violence are the only witnesses to their crime, and for the abuser to kill that witness implies intent to prevent testimony - which intent should negate Sixth Amendment rights.  The Supreme Court (led by Justice Scalia, of course), just doesn’t get it.  And they apparently also don’t understand the serious blow they dealt to victims of domestic violence. 

You can check out the full story at WaPo. What do you think?  Let your thoughts flow!