Kevin Rice v. Terry McCann Warden, Centralia Correctional Center

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), that “where constitutional rights directly affecting the ascertainment of guilt are implicat*551ed, the hearsay rule may not be applied mechanistically to defeat the ends of justice.” With all due respect to the contrary view of my colleagues, it seems me that this is just what the Supreme Court of Illinois did in this case.

A police officer testified that he saw Kevin Rice hand Raymond Pugh a bag later discovered to contain heroin. On the basis of this testimony — and nothing else —…