State v. Godinez

Summary

The New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the determination that admitting the daughter’s testimonial statements at the probation-revocation hearing without an opportunity for cross-examination violated the probationer’s due-process rights. The court held that confrontation questions must be resolved case by case by weighing the need and utility of confrontation against the reliability and corroboration of the challenged evidence, and that the corroborating evidence here did not establish the sexual-contact offense sufficiently to dispense with confrontation. The court rejected the Court of Appeals’ categorical rule and remanded for any further revocation proceedings the State elects to pursue.