State v. Lucas

We are asked to decide whether responsive statements made by a visibly upset woman, while standing in her apartment doorway, to a police officer responding to a “domestic” call, were testimonial and therefore inadmissible under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. These statements were made in response to the officer asking her “what happened” and “where she got the marks[.]” These statements were admitted at the bench trial in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County which resulted in the conviction of Dennis Lamont Lucas, respondent, for second degree assault. 1 The State appeals…