People v. Evans

(Court opinion corrected 8/3/16.) Defendant was convicted of first degree murder.Regardless of grant of immunity to co-defendant and regardless of whether co-defendant had the right to assert 5th amendment, without admission of prior statement's Defendant's right to confrontation was violated when, over Defendant's objection, in presence of jury, co-defendant refused to answer 20 of prosecutor's leading and suggestive questions, for which there was no evidentiary support, about alleged crime. Prosecutor's questions created substantial risk that jury would look to implicit statements therein, which were not in evidence, to determine Defendant's guilt. The questioning of co-defendant was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.(O'BRIEN, concurring; SCHMIDT, dissenting.)