Pointer v. Texas - Significance, Supreme Court Holds That States Must Allow Criminal Defendants To Confront And Cross-examine Witnesses Against Them

petitioner justices harlan respondent

Petitioner

Bob Granville Pointer

Respondent

State of Texas

Petitioner's Claim

That the use of transcribed testimony in a criminal prosecution deprived the defendant of his Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine witnesses against him.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Orville A. Harlan

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Gilbert J. Pena

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black (writing for the Court), William J. Brennan, Jr., Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Arthur Goldberg, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Earl Warren, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

5 April 1965

Decision

Reversed Pointer's conviction.

Related Cases

Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937).
Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961).
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).
Malloy v. Hogan, 678 U.S. 1 (1964).

Additional Topics

Pointer v. Texas - Significance

Although in 1965 most states recognized the right of confrontation guaranteed in federal trials by the Sixth Amendment, Texas did not. Pointer emphasized that the standard for upholding this right must be uniform throughout the states. Bob Granville Pointer and an accomplice were arrested in Texas and charged with robbing Kenneth W. Phillips of $375. Pointer and his accomplice were then taken befo…

Pointer v. Texas - Supreme Court Holds That States Must Allow Criminal Defendants To Confront And Cross-examine Witnesses Against Them

Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Black stated unequivocally that states must permit criminal defendants to confront and cross-examine witnesses against them in all cases where the federal standard for observing the Confrontation Clause applies:[T]he right of cross-examination is included in the right of an accused in a criminal case to confront the witnesses against him . . . There are few s…

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