"Crawford" death penalty holding in Aryan Brotherhood trial

In what may be yet another landmark sentencing case, the U.S. District Court in Central California decided yesterday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington, in fact extended to sentencing hearings in federal death penalty cases, giving accused persons the “right of confrontation” at sentencing hearings as well as the actual trial level. (Article)

The trial in particular involves the two Aryan Brotherhood gangleaders in San Quentin convicted last month for some 32 murders & attempted murders over the course of 30 years in a prosecution said to be one of the largest death penalty cases in U.S. history.


U.S. v. Mills;Bingham, Case CR 02-938, U.S. District Court, Central California, decided Aug. 17, 2006