448 U.S. 56 (1980) (U.S. Supreme Court)
Ohio v. Roberts is the keystone pre-Crawford decision that defined when hearsay could be introduced against a criminal defendant without live confrontation.
Does admitting a transcript of a key witness's preliminary-hearing testimony at trial, when the witness does not appear and the prosecution has made good-faith but unsuccessful efforts to secure her presence, violate the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him?
Under the Confrontation Clause, out-of-court statements of an unavailable declarant may be admitted against a criminal defendant only if (1) the prosecution demonstrates that the declarant is unavailable despite good-faith efforts to procure the witness's presence, and (2) the statement bears adequate indicia of reliability. Reliability is presumed when the statement falls within a firmly rooted hearsay exception; otherwise, the State must establish particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Prior testimony given under oath, before a judicial officer, with the defendant represented by counsel and an adequate opportunity to cross-examine, is generally considered sufficiently reliable.
No constitutional violation occurred. The State established the witness's unavailability through good-faith efforts, and the preliminary-hearing testimony bore adequate indicia of reliability because it was given under oath in a judicial proceeding with an opportunity for cross-examination. Admission of the transcript did not violate the Confrontation Clause.
Ohio v. Roberts supplied the governing Confrontation Clause standard for nearly a quarter century: unavailability plus adequate indicia of reliability, with reliability inferred for firmly rooted hearsay exceptions and otherwise proven by particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. In practice, this allowed admission of prior testimony and certain hearsay where cross-examination had already occurred or where circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness were strong. Although Crawford v. Washington (2004) later displaced Roberts's reliability-balancing for testimonial statements (requiring unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination, without judicial weighing of reliability), Roberts still informs (1) what counts as a good-faith effort to secure a witness, (2) admissibility of non-testimonial hearsay, and (3) historical context for Evidence/Criminal Procedure exams. Law students should understand Roberts both on its own terms and as the doctrinal foil that Crawford rejected.