SYLLABUS

(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).

State v. Ryan Buda (A-4/5-07)

[NOTE: This is a companion case to State v. J.A., State v. Sweet and State v. Dorman, also decided today.]

Argued February 5, 2008 – Decided June 23, 2008

RIVERA-SOTO, J., writing for a majority of the Court.

This appeal requires that the Court address and apply the holding of the Supreme Court of the United States in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct. 1354, 158 L. Ed. 2d. 177 (2004), that, under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, “[t]estimonial statements of witnesses absent from trial have been admitted only where the declarant is unavailable, and only where the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.” Id.