Blades v. United States

STEADMAN, Senior Judge:

In this appeal, appellant Jonathan Blades contends that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him by entirely precluding cross-examination of the government’s key witness, James Bell, for bias. We agree with the appellant. Accordingly, we reverse his convictions 1 and remand for a new trial.

I

Appellant’s conviction depended solely on the testimony of Bell, the only eyewit ness to testify. In a nutshell, Bell testified that he saw appellant stab Charles Smith on June 27, 2006, at approximately 12:45 p.m. in front of 2841…