Albert Joseph Forn v. Thomas A. Hornung, Warden

Petitioner-Appellant Albert Joseph Forn (“Forn”) seeks a writ of habeas corpus on his 1998 California solicitation of murder and conspiracy to commit murder conviction, arguing that his rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated by the admission of an extrajudicial statement given by his accomplice, James Hill. We must decide whether Hill’s statement, admitted under the “against penal interest” hearsay exception, and its surrounding circumstances call the trustworthiness of Hill's statement into question such that Forn’s inability to cross-examine Hill violated the Sixth Amendment. We conclude that while the admission of Hill’s statement was improper, the error was harmless under contemporary Supreme Court authority.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The November Statement

Forn was convicted of conspiring with and soliciting James Hill (a/k/a “Corunell David Hill” and “James Willis”) to murder Joe Crail, Forn’s former business associate. The chain of events that led the authorities to Forn began with Hill’s arrest for attempted extortion outside Crail’s office on November 13, 1996. While Hill was under arrest, police detectives conducted a videotaped interrogation, during…