MBE Rules · Evidence
Bruton rule — co-defendant confessions
Bruton v. United States
The rule
In a joint criminal trial, admission of a non-testifying co-defendant's confession that facially incriminates the defendant violates the Confrontation Clause, even with a limiting instruction. Remedies include severance, redaction that eliminates the defendant's name and any reference to their existence, or exclusion.
In plain English
You cannot cure the harm of a co-defendant's out-of-court confession pointing the finger at you by telling the jury to consider it only against the co-defendant. Simply replacing the name with a blank or 'deleted' does not save it if the redaction still obviously refers to the defendant (Gray v. Maryland).
How examiners test it
Two co-defendants tried together; one gave a written statement to police naming the other; the confessing defendant does not testify.
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