What is a defendant's constitutional right to cross-examine a witness in a criminal trial?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Talbott, B262869 (Cal. App. 2016):

A criminal defendant's constitutional right to due process is violated when the state proceeds in a manner that renders a trial fundamentally unfair. (People v. Rivas (2013) 214 Cal.App.4th 1410, 1422.) A criminal defendant's right to call witnesses on

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his own behalf is essential to due process. (Chambers v. Mississippi (1973) 410 U.S. 284, 302.) But "the right to confront and to cross-examine is not absolute and may, in appropriate cases, bow to accommodate other legitimate interests in the criminal trial process." (Id. at p. 295.) A criminal defendant's right to call a witness may bow to that witness's privilege against self-incrimination. (Seijas, supra, 36 Cal.4th 291.)

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