Gardner v. District of Columbia Department of Employment Services

After a non-jury trial, appellant was convicted of assault. With support from amicus curiae, the Public Defender Service, appellant seeks reversal based on, inter alia, the decision of the Supreme in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). Specifically, appellant and amicus contend that certain out-of-court hearsay statements that were admitted into evidence at trial violated the Confrontation Clause as interpreted by the Court in Crawford. Thus, on appeal, he claims that the trial court erred in admitting the victims statements as excited utterances. He also contends that the evidence was insufficient to permit the court, as trier of fact, to find that he committed the assault. We affirm.