Blanks v. State

EYLER, DEBORAH S., J.

This case raises the question whether the Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), applies in a probation revocation hearing. We hold that it does not. We further hold that the right to confront witnesses as protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does apply and was satisfied in this case.

On November 14, 2011, in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, Richard Blanks, the appellant, entered an Alford plea to a charge of robbery.…