A federal appeals court has reversed a trial judge’s decision ordering a new trial for a convicted murderer because his Sixth Amendment confrontation clause rights had been violated.
Eastern District Judge Carol B. Amon last year directed that Darrell Watson be set free or retried for the 1998 robbery murder of Patrick Morris in Brooklyn because the state trial court refused to allow into evidence a detective’s note implying the shooter may have been Mr. Watson’s friend and co-assailant, a government cooperator named Rakeem “Keemie” Harvey.
