Jones v. Basinger

Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendant's habeas petition challenging his multiple murder convictions on ground that trial court improperly permitted two police officers to testify in detail about informant's double-hearsay statement from accomplice accusing defendant of having leadership role in said murders. Admission of said evidence was contrary to Crawford, 541 US 36 where, as here, prosecutor used hearsay evidence as substantive evidence of defendant's guilt. Ct. rejected govt. contention that evidence was admissible to establish course of police investigation to explain how police focused on defendant as suspect in case.