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Right to present a defense
Prof Colin TG Miller has this post.
In Crane v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court found that:
“[w]hether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation Clauses of the Sixth Amendment, the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.”
As I noted in my article, Dismissed with Prejudice: Why Application of the Anti-Jury Impeachment Rule to Allegations of Racial, Religious, or Other Bias Violates the Right to Present a Defense, 61 Baylor L. Rev. 872 (2009), courts generally require defendants to prove three elements to establish that application of a rule of evidence violated or would violate the right to present a defense:
First, that the defendant was or would be deprived “of the opportunity to present evidence in his favor;” second, the excluded evidence was or would be “material and favorable to his defense;” and third, the deprivation was or would be “arbitrary or disproportionate to any legitimate evidentiary or procedural purpose.”
So, does the right to present a defense provide relief to a defendant who wants to impeach a Rule 801(d)(2)(B) declarant?