State v. Steen

In this criminal case, we determine the reviewability on appeal of defense counsel’s deliberate decision at trial not to object to otherwise excludable hearsay testimony.

Before the Court of Appeals, defendant claimed that admission of testimonial hearsay, to which he had not objected at trial, violated his right to confront adverse witnesses under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1 The Court of Appeals concluded, at the first step of its analysis, that defendant had asserted “an error of law apparent on the face of the record” that was subject to appellate review under…