After completing Read: Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, assume the following facts:
After leaving a bar, a woman enters her car in a darkened parking garage. She is confronted by her ex-husband, against whom she has a domestic no-contact order. She attempts to dial 911 from her cellular telephone but is unable to make a connection. Amazingly, she can take a photograph with her phone and send an accompanying text message, asking for assistance to a law enforcement friend. The officer and woman exchange text messages about who is assaulting her and where she is located until the ex-husband flees. The woman is unable to appear at trial and the defendant moves to suppress the “statements” at his trial for felony violation of the no-contact order.
Given the above facts and using the Court’s rationale for distinguishing “testimonial” and “non-testimonial” statements, state whether the text message and photograph should be admitted as evidence at trial and why.
According to Deuteronomy 19:15, “One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (NIV 1984). In light of that scripture, elaborate how you would change or not change your answer.
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