The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Reynaldo Santos Dungo, Defendant and Appellant — Chin, J., Concurring

Summary

Justice Chin concurred in the majority's conclusion that an expert's reliance on anatomical observations in an autopsy report did not violate the defendant's federal confrontation rights. He reasoned that the result was required because the evidence satisfied both rationales that together supplied the necessary majority support in the Supreme Court's fragmented confrontation decision: the observations lacked sufficient formality and were not primarily prepared to accuse a targeted person or create trial evidence. Justice Werdegar, concurring, offered additional reasoning, while Justice Corrigan, dissenting, would have found the autopsy observations testimonial and the admission of the testimony unconstitutional.