Information on the retroactive effect of Crawford v. Washington and its impact on military court-martial proceedings:
Crawford v. Washington is “new rule of law” for the conduct of criminal prosecutions and must be applied retroactively for all cases that are still pending on direct review. United States v. Cabrera-Frattini, 65 M.J. 241, 245 (C.A.A.F. 2007).
Whorton v. Bockting, 127 S. Ct. 1173 (2007).
Issue: Whether the decision in Crawford is retroactive to cases already final on direct review (in other words, can Crawford be used to collaterally attack cases already final after direct review).
Held: Crawford is not retroactive to cases already final on direct review because its impact on criminal procedure is equivocal. Crawford results in the admission of fewer testimonial statements, NMCCA Rules while exempting nontestimonial statements from confrontation analysis entirely. Thus, it is not clear that in the absence of Crawford the likelihood of an accurate conviction was seriously diminished under the Roberts analysis. Since the Crawford rule did not significantly alter the fundamental fairness of criminal proceedings, it is not a watershed rule requiring retroactive effect on cases already final on direct review.
