Hemphill v. New York

During a street fight, a nine-millimeter bullet killed a toddler in a nearby minivan. Eyewitnesses said the shooter was wearing a blue sweater or sweatshirt. Nicholas Morris was one of the fighters. Three eyewitnesses selected Morris as the shooter from a police lineup. In Morris’s home, police found a single nine-millimeter cartridge and multiple .357 cartridges on a nightstand. Police also found a blue sweater in the home of another fighter, Ronnell Gilliam. Initially, Gilliam claimed that Morris was the shooter. Gilliam later changed his story and claimed that his cousin Darrell Hemphill (defendant) was the real shooter. However, Morris was still indicted for the toddler’s murder. Ultimately, the murder charge against Morris was dismissed. In exchange, Morris pled guilty to a single charge of criminal possession of a .357 revolver. Five years later, the police learned that DNA on the blue sweater belonged to Hemphill. Hemphill was charged with the toddler’s murder. At trial, Hemphill’s defense was that Morris was the shooter. An officer testified about the cartridges found on Morris’s nightstand. However, Morris was out of the country and unavailable to testify. The prosecution asked to present a transcript of Morris’s plea hearing to argue that Morris had owned only a .357 revolver, which could not be the murder weapon, and that criminal possession of that revolver was Morris’s only crime. Hemphill objected that this hearsay evidence violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront Morris. The trial court found that Hemphill’s arguments had created a misleading impression about Morris. Under a state evidentiary rule, this misleading impression opened the door for the prosecution to present evidence clarifying and refuting Hemphill’s claims about Morris. Thus, the trial court allowed the transcript as evidence. Hemphill was convicted of murder. On appeal, Hemphill’s briefs primarily argued about the state evidentiary rule but also stated that the transcript had violated the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. The state courts affirmed the conviction. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.