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David Swims v. Mississippi
IFP petition · Court of Appeals of Mississippi, No. 2023-KA-01244-COA · judgment August 5, 2025
Question presented
Whether the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause permits a State to introduce forensic pathology results and an autopsy through a surrogate pathologist who neither performed nor observed the autopsy first-hand, and whose testimony depends on the truth of an absent pathologist’s statements.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Stacy Leah Ferraro
Stacy Ferraro
For respondent
Allison Elizabeth Horne
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Case
Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, October 5, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2026Petition DENIED.
- Jul 02 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
- Jun 26 2026Waiver of right of respondent Mississippi to respond filed.
- May 22 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due July 16, 2026)