Cite as: 527 U. S. 116 (1999)
Rehnquist, C. J., concurring in judgment
did not turn solely on the fact that the challenged statement inculpated the defendant, but were instead grounded in the Court's suspicion of untested custodial confessions. See, e. g., Lee, supra, at 544-545. The plurality describes Dutton v. Evans, 400 U. S. 74 (1970), as an "exception" to this line of cases, ante, at 132, n. 2, but that case involved an accomplice's statement to a fellow prisoner, see 400 U. S., at 77-78, not a custodial confession.
The Court in Dutton held that the admission of an accomplice's statement to a fellow inmate did not violate the Confrontation Clause under the facts of that case, see id., at 86-89, and I see no reason to foreclose the possibility that such statements, even those that inculpate a codefendant, may fall under a firmly rooted hearsay exception. The Court in Dutton recognized that statements to fellow prisoners, like confessions to family members or friends, bear sufficient indicia of reliability to be placed before a jury without confrontation of the declarant. Id., at 89. Several federal courts have similarly concluded that such statements fall under a firmly rooted hearsay exception.3 Dutton is thus no "exception," but a case wholly outside the "unbroken line" of cases, see ante, at 132, n. 2, in which custodial confessions laying blame on a codefendant have been found to violate the Confrontation Clause. The custodial confession in this case falls under the coverage of this latter set of cases, and I would not extend the holding here any further.
The plurality's blanket ban on the government's use of accomplice statements that incriminate a defendant thus sweeps beyond the facts of this case and our precedent,
3 See, e. g., United States v. York, 933 F. 2d 1343, 1362-1364 (CA7 1991) (finding federal declaration against penal interest exception firmly rooted in case involving accomplice's statements made to two associates); United States v. Seeley, 892 F. 2d 1, 2 (CA1 1989) (exception firmly rooted in case involving statements made to declarant's girlfriend and stepfather); United States v. Katsougrakis, 715 F. 2d 769, 776 (CA2 1983) (no violation in admitting accomplice's statements to friend).
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