State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. S.P.

This juvenile court delinquency proceeding comes before us on a question of federal constitutional law. In Crawford v. Washington, 541 US 36, 124 S Ct 1354, 158 L Ed 2d 177 (2004), the United States Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbids the admission of testimonial hearsay in a criminal trial, unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.1 See also Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 US_, 129 S Ct 2527, 174 L Ed 3d 314 (2009) (applying Crawford). In this case, we are asked to determine…