The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that a trial court erred when it permitted a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) employee to submit an affidavit suggesting that a defendant knew or should have known he was driving with a revoked license. Such knowledge was an element of the felony charge of aggravated unlicensed operation on which the defendant was convicted. People v. Stephen M. Pacer, No. 45.
New York’s high court found that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, Stephen M. Pacer’s Sixth Amendment rights were violated by the admission into evidence of the affidavit. In Crawford, the justices said that “testimonial” statements that are not subject to cross-examination can’t be used against a criminal defendant.
