Shipe

After jury trial, appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, Because' we have concluded that his constitutional right of confrontation was violated, we reverse the judgment.

On March 1, 1972, Alva Hugh Kroupa, a dealer in marijuana and restricted dangerous drugs, was found murdered in his small cottage in Fresno, California; Kroupa had been stabbed 32 times with a knife apparently wielded by a left-handed person who cut himself in the hand during the stabbing.

On the afternoon of March 2, 1972, Gary Crawley, appellant and appellant’s stepbrother, Marc Setencich, were arrested and charged with Kroupa’s murder. At the time of the arrest, appellant had a knife wound on his left hand. Thereafter, Crawley and Setencich entered pleas of guilty as accessories after the fact to the murder; appellant entered a plea of not guilty to the murder charge, and the cause proceeded to jury trial.

At the trial, the prosecutor called Gary Crawley and Marc Setencich as witnesses for the People. In answer to the prosecutor’s preliminary questions, Crawley stated that he was 22 years of age, a high school graduate, right-handed and addicted to heroin and seconal; he said that he…