Lilly v. Virginia

527 U.S. 116 (1999)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Three men, including Lilly (D), his brother and his brother's roommate broke into a home stole liquor, guns and a safe. They drank the liquor and robbed a country store, and then shot at geese with their stolen weapons. They then abducted Alex and used his vehicle to drive to a deserted location and then shot and killed him. They then committed two more robberies before they were taken into custody. Police questioned each of them separately, and D did not mention the murder and stated that the other two had forced him into the robberies. The other two told different stories in that D was the mastermind and D had killed Alex. As for his brother's interrogation, he was questioned in the early morning and continually emphasized how drunk he had been during the entire spree and admitted to the robberies and that he was present during the more serious thefts and the homicide. Police threatened the brother that he would be sentenced to life if he did not breach family ties. Then the brother indicated that D was the mastermind and the one who had killed Alex. D was charged with several offenses and the murder of Alex and was tried separately. D's brother was called as a witness at D's trial, but he invoked his 5th Amendment Right Against self-incrimination. The Commonwealth then offered to introduce statements into evidence that the brother had made to police upon his arrest arguing that they were admissible as declarations of an unavailable witness against penal interest. D objected as they were not actually against the brother's interest because they shifted responsibility of the crime to D and that would violate D's Sixth Amendment rights. The judge allowed them into the trial in their entirety. D was found guilty of a laundry list of crimes including capital murder. D got the death sentence. Appeals were taken, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the convictions. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.