Judges
- The Honorable Amy J. St. Eve (B.A. ’87, J.D. ’90), United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- The Honorable Robert J. Luck, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- The Honorable Alison J. Nathan (B.A. ’94, J.D. ’00), United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- The Honorable Rodolfo Ruiz, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- The Honorable Zahid Quraishi, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
Statement of the Case
Petitioner: Ryu Chan Ho
Respondent: State of Myrontana
Today, the Court will consider when, if ever, a preliminary hearing provides an “adequate opportunity” for cross-examination under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment.
Ryu Chan Ho lived with his aunt and uncle, Kobe and Bryant Lin. In February 2017, Ryu called 911 to report that Mr. Lin had been murdered. When investigators from the Bruin City Police Department arrived, they interviewed Ryu and Mrs. Lin. Initially, Mrs. Lin reported that an unknown intruder had attacked Mr. Lin. Later in the interview, however, she informed police that Ryu was responsible for her husband’s death. Ryu was arrested and charged with murder. One week later, a preliminary hearing was held to determine whether probable cause existed for the charge against Ryu. Because the investigation had begun a week earlier, the only document the State provided Ryu’s counsel was the arrest citation. Typically, the only witnesses presented at preliminary hearings in Myrontana are law enforcement officers. However, because Mrs. Lin was eighty-two-years old, the State also called her as a witness to preserve her testimony in case she was unavailable at trial. However, they did not notify Ryu’s counsel that they would do so.
At the preliminary hearing, Mrs. Lin described Ryu coming into the bedroom and yelling at Mr. Lin. She testified that Ryu returned with two knives, then cursed and yelled at Mr. Lin before cutting him with the knives. She recounted telling Ryu that she was going to call 911, but Ryu threatened to kill Mr. Lin if she did. She said that Ryu helped Mr. Lin off the floor twice, but Mr. Lin fell back down both times. She also stated that Ryu helped bandage Mr. Lin’s wounds and checked his pulse. However, she testified that Ryu reported a few minutes later that Mr. Lin had died. Defense counsel asked Mrs. Lin six questions on cross-examination, including how long she had known Ryu, how long Ryu had lived with her and Mr. Lin, and whether Ryu’s behavior was out of character. The court found probable cause and sent the case to the grand jury, which indicted Ryu for murder, tampering with physical evidence, and being a persistent felony offender.
In June 2018, Mrs. Lin died. Anticipating that the State would seek to introduce her preliminary hearing testimony, Ryu’s counsel made a motion to prevent the testimony from being introduced. Defense counsel argued that introducing the testimony would violate Ryu’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. Further, defense counsel argued that they did not have an adequate opportunity to cross-examine Mrs. Lin at the preliminary hearing because of the limited scope of a preliminary hearing, because they had no notice that Mrs. Lin would testify at the hearing, because the only discovery they had received was the arrest citation, and because they had not had adequate time to investigate the case in the week between Ryu’s arrest and the preliminary hearing. The State countered that the preliminary hearing judge had not sustained any objections to defense counsel’s questioning. Additionally, the State noted that defense counsel knew of Mrs. Lin’s advanced age and yet had not asked to delay the hearing so they could prepare further.
The trial court ruled that Mrs. Lin’s preliminary hearing testimony was admissible. Subsequently, Ryu entered a conditional guilty plea, preserving his ability to appeal the trial court’s ruling. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Myrontana affirmed. The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari.
