Ackerman v. State
Annotate this CaseIn 2013, Defendant was charged with second degree murder for the death of a toddler that occurred in 1977. During a bench trial, the court admitted into evidence an autopsy report. The autopsy was performed by a pathologist who was unavailable to testify at trial. In addition to the autopsy report, the State called a forensic pathologist to testify regarding his independent opinion of the child’s death and injuries based on the autopsy report. The trial court found Defendant guilty of second degree murder. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment under the relevant sentencing statutes in 1977. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) because the autopsy report was not testimonial, Defendant’s confrontation right was not violated when the report was admitted into evidence or when the surrogate pathologist testified regarding the information detailed in the autopsy report; (2) the delay between the murder of the child and Defendant’s prosecution did not violate Defendant’s due process rights; and (3) even if the trial court erred at sentencing by taking into consideration the current sentencing scheme that was inapplicable in this case, the error was harmless.
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